I'm a changeling, see me change (translation)
by Eilisande
Summary: There is an owl carved on the porch in front of Sarah's window and she knows she's being watched. She refuses to be traumatized by her run in the labyrinth, but cannot prevent some creatures to take an interest in her. When Toby disappears again, she must find him alone ... or accept some help she doesn't want.
1. The owl on the porch

Translation of one of my texts. Enjoy and let me know if you liked it.

**Chapter 1 The owl on the porch**

There was an owl carved on the porch in front of Sarah's apartment. Every morning and every night she made sure it hadn't moved. Often she waked up started, her heart pounding. In those moments, it was hard to remember that she wasn't in the hall of her parents' house. She had to open the window to get rid of the ozone smell of that stormy night that lingered in her memory. Then, she curled up in her bed, a pillow on her head so as not to hear the flapping wings of the owl and the clock striking the twelve strokes.

Every time the morning after, she stayed a long time at the window, fixing the stone owl. Maybe one day she could decide if she was more relieved or disappointed to see it always in the same place. In any case, she would have liked to notice its presence before renting her student room.

Of course, it was quite possible that the owl only appeared after she signed the lease. That was the kind of thing he would do.

Sarah did not need to see the owl move to know she was being watched all the time. Sometimes she felt like a friendly presence not far from her. Those days, she wanted to laugh and sing. She was absolutely sure that it was her goblin friends who followed her, even now that she could no longer see them. Every evening she left a cup of milk for them at the window. Stories, after all, said it was the right thing to do.

In the morning, the cup was always empty. Sarah did not know if it was her friends or her neighbour's cat who enjoyed it. The cat sometimes jumped on her window ledge from the neighbour's balcony, but Sarah had never caught him. It was probably him anyway. The more time passed, the harder it was to remember that the goblins and the labyrinth were not a dream. Why did her friends disappear? It wasn't fair.

Sarah smiled as she realized that she was falling back into childishness. Life was not fair. The fairy world less still. On reflection, the very idea of justice was a lie. All the same, Sarah had won that night. It seemed legitimate, after the hardships she had endured, that she could continue to see her companions. Unfortunately, she had only theories to explain their absence and no certainty. She could only hope that her memories were real, that she wasn't being followed everywhere, that it was just paranoia.

It was the only thing that convinced her that she was not crazy when it was another presence she felt close to her. Sometimes she felt followed by a tenacious grudge hanging out all day long. More rarely, an oppressive and haunting presence seemed to follow each of her steps, leaving her out of breath before the end of the day. On those days, even the people around her seemed affected and ended up avoiding her.

Slowly breathing, Sarah drove her worries away, retrieved the empty cup from the window sill and closed it. The curtains hid the owl from view again. Like every morning, Sarah had to force herself to focus on mundane things rather than wandering in her thought. She would have to buy milk and eggs. She would take the opportunity to make the change for the laundromat. She still had enough pasta and vegetables to hold until the end of the week. She had to go to the library to check some references and especially to see her teacher.

In the past, she had defeated the Goblin King himself. Today, she had to think about the fact that she only had two pairs of clean socks left.

No, life was not fair, but it loved irony.

Sarah ordered her papers and books and stuffed them in her bag. Then, she grabbed her keys and went out. As she put the keys in the lock of her apartment, she shuddered. She wasn't alone. There was someone behind her and she could feel their breath in her neck. She turned, but the presence was still behind her, coldly amused by her behaviour. Terrorized, she reopened the door and took refuge in the apartment. The unpleasant sensation disappeared and Sarah leaned against the door, trying to catch her breath, terribly aware that her keys had remained on the lock, on the other side and that she was no longer safe on this side of the door. She wanted to be able to stay there all day. Her apartment was an island of security for her. Whoever it was who followed her in public places, they left her alone in her home. But if she made the choice to hide there for a whole day, she would never dare leave her house ever again. Inspiring a long sip of air, she reopened the door.

The presence was still there but was staying at a reasonable distance. Relieved, Sarah retrieved her keys and went down the stairs. At the bottom, she met her owner shivering, a shawl on her shoulders.

"It's crazy this sudden cold with this big sun," she mumbled. "Is there an open window up there?"  
"Nothing at all," Sarah said, letting her go upstairs to check.

She hurried out, certain that the atmosphere would warm up inside. While putting her keys in her bag, she checked that the owl was still in its place and blinked. It was gone.

Then, a cloud went before the sun and Sarah realized that it was only an effect of the brightness. The owl was still here. Breathing again, she walked away as fast as she could.  
Her landlady was right. The weather was beautiful and the heat exceptional for Oxford this season. Sarah decided not to take the bus. She had time, after all. On foot she joined Merton College where she had a meeting with Professor Dyntoshire, wondering what the weather was like in America and how her family was doing. She missed them, of course, but she loved this city, especially on sunny days like this.

When she arrived in the old college, she joined the professor's office, knocked at the door and waited for him to call her inside. The old, stern professor did not rise to greet her but pointed to the chair for her to sit down. Sarah took the time to take out her papers and take a look at Midsummer Eve's reproduction hanging on the wall. As always, she wondered if fairies of this kind, sweet and cheery, really existed or if the ignoble but endearing Goblins were the only real mythological creatures.

"So Miss William," asked the professor, "have you finished your paper?"

Sarah cursed her distraction and sat up straighter in her chair.

"Yes, sir."

He grabbed the file she was holding out and consulted it, shaking his head regularly before putting it on top of a large pile.

"I will keep you informed of your note. And now, have you thought about this thesis project?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you again for accepting to supervise me.

"You are smart and rational. I do not agree with all your ideas, but you have the merit to be interested in understudied aspects of folklore."

Sarah did not blush under the professor's compliment, even though they were rare. She had learned not to be dismounted by contempt and insult. She particularly distrusted compliments. They gave power over the other.

About her thesis ... That was the heart of the problem, really. There was so much that Sarah wanted to understand, wanted to master, and myths and folklore said so little. Never again would she feel helpless and prisoner.

"I do not really know," she admitted.

"The last time we saw each other, you talked about the loss of innocence in fairy tales," the teacher insisted. "This subject has potential. Remains to see under what angle you wish to approach it."  
Yes, she had thought about it. The subject satisfied her less and less, however. It was too close to her personal story and it was out of the question for her to fall back into the self-reflexion of her childhood. She had lost her innocence that night, but she was sure she had won something in exchange. Sarah looked up to fix Midsummer Eve's reproduction again. Just like that, she knew what she wanted to study.

"The words of power. I want to study speech as a source of power in fairy folklore."

These words seemed to resonate in the silence of the room and curl around Sarah's chair. She held a smile, not to annoy a potential spectator. Yes, it was a good choice. She did not want to understand what had happened to her, nor to find out if it was real. She didn't need or want to study her adventure from the perspective of psychoanalysis. No, what she wanted was weapons to attack in response if it were real. If she was confronted by this world again. Understanding it, defending herself was insufficient, it was the reaction of a frightened girl. She wanted to be able to fight and win again, but no more by chance.

The professor raised an eyebrow.

"It's a bit drastic change. You will have to go back to your corpus and start over your searches from scratch."

"I can do it."

"We will see that. All the same, it is strange to go from the issue of fairy's victims to their powers."

"In fact, I am more interested in the question of speech and language as a mean to confront the fairies."

"Start from a comparative point of view, at first. Very well. The holidays start tomorrow. I come back on the 30th. That leaves you a month to convince me that this new choice is the right one, with a good corpus to support it, of course."

Sarah smiled broadly as she collected her belongings. The professor was already ignoring her to look on his corrections and gave her a distracted hand sign that looked less like a goodbye than an order to disappear.

Once in the hall, Sarah leaned against the wall and sighed with relief. The teacher had no patience for uncertain students. If he had not found her subject interesting, he would probably have kicked her out with orders to find another thesis supervisor. Once she was not overwhelmed by relief, she realized what the teacher had also requested her to do and she slammed her forehead. She felt like an idiot. She hasn't realized at the time that she had committed to a titanic job for the coming month. Knowing the professor, he would be only half satisfied with her research and would make her start again from scratch two or three times just to constitute her initial bibliography. Two months locked in the library, that's what awaited her. She had to renounce to any hope of returning to America before the fall. But she couldn't be sorry for herself. It would not have happened if she had been less indecisive. With a decided step, she went to the library.

She stayed a long time at the library. When she got off the bus in her street, the evening was already well advanced and Sarah was exhausted. Her brain seemed unable to stop thinking and crisscrossed references to consult the next day. She was so tired she nearly forgot to stop to check if the owl was still in its place. She was neither hungry nor thirsty, she just wanted to crumble in her bed and not leave for two days, at least. The unpleasant presence had stuck to her feet all day long. Sarah's discomfort had almost kept her from concentrating.

The noise she made when opening and closing the door of the house attracted her landlady.  
"Miss William, you've received a call earlier. I noted the number on the dresser, you should call back tonight."

Sarah nodded and waited until her landlady had disappeared into her living room and closed the door to get to the phone. That was one of the reasons she chose this student room, even if it was quite far from the colleges and the libraries. There was no phone in her room. This way, her parents were forced to call her at set times rather than ringing her at ease. Anyway, she had not kept any of her childhood friends after her adventure. They had nothing in common now. At Oxford, she had only made distant connexions with her fellow students. Only the understanding of the Underworld interested her now. She called her family about twice a week, mostly to talk to Toby, the few times he was in a talkative mood.

Besides the handset, she found a phone number. English, unknown to Sarah. Curious, she picked up the handset and dialled the number. She felt her stomach twisting. The surprises and the unknown displeased her supremely but it was unlikely that the inhabitants of the Underworld had learned to use modern technology.

"Good evening, I'm Miss William," Sarah asked as soon as someone took the phone. "Did you tried to contact me earlier in the day?"

"Miss William? Please wait."

The voice was male and doubtful. He had to put his hand on the phone because Sarah only heard a muffled murmur. Tired, she was getting impatient when the voice resounded again.

"A moment if you please, I give you room 307."

Sarah spent the long seconds of waiting to speculate in vain on who could contact her from a hotel. Finally, she heard her mother-in-law's voice.

"Sarah, is that you? It's been hours that we try to reach you!"

The girl refrained from retorting sharply that she had studies to carry out and that she could no more be at their disposal than they were systematically present at the times they had set well in advance. She hoped she became more mature with the years.

"I was busy with my research, my thesis project will be validated in September," she replied rather before adding the only argument likely to interest her mother-in-law. "It is a very famous teacher who will mentor me."

"Oh. That's good, I guess."

Her indifference did not surprise Sarah. She got used to it and was satisfied with it. Their exchanges never dragged on and they had to endure them only a short time.

"Is my father here?" She asked to end the silence. "What are you doing in England?"

"Oh, we are on an unforeseen business trip. A colleague of your father had to withdraw. Your father replaced him unexpectedly and must sign a big contract tomorrow. He is not here at the moment, but in a business meeting, to prepare the signature. His client invited us to discover England, its culture and its history. He made us visit London this afternoon, it was great. We are in London for another three days, you have to come tomorrow. We could go shopping together and eat at the hotel. Toby miss you so much!"

Sarah had ten times opened her mouth during her mother-in-law's logorrhea to refuse. The mere mention of Toby stopped her and she sighed.

"I cannot come during the day," she sighed, "I must advance my research. Can I come in the late afternoon and spend the evening with you?"

Her mother-in-law only protested for two seconds. They quickly settled the last details of her arrival, eager to say goodbye. Sarah hung up with relief, then climbed down to her bed, just taking the time to put her research on her desk.

The Oxford train dropped her in London at six o'clock and Sarah rushed into the subway trying to contain her repulsion. She hated this city with passion and its subway even more. The corridors reminded her of others where she had almost been killed by a metal machine. She did not breathe properly until she arrived in the hotel lobby.

She was guided to a living room where she waited a few minutes before her parents joined her. She could not miss her mother-in-law's grimace of disappointment when she saw her dressed in simple jeans in this luxury hotel. A little proud of herself, as every time she did not correspond to what Irene would have wanted her to be, but trying to hide it, Sarah got up to embrace her father. The embrace was brief and clumsy, as always.

"Where is Toby?" Sarah finally asked as they sat around a table and her father had hailed a waiter.

"The hotel offers to make the children eat apart," explained Irene. "You will see it after the meal."  
"It's not a bad idea, you know. Toby needs to spend more time with children his age."

Her father looked worried and tired. For this reason alone, Sarah did not begin a scandal. She was terribly annoyed at being deprived of Toby for a few more hours on the pretext of a dinner she did not want to attend. They all knew that she had only come for her brother.

When they had been served with drinks, Sarah agreed to answer their questions. She explained to them her new subject of research and spoke about the books she had consulted in the morning. She described with love the long rows of books that stretched almost endlessly in the Oxford libraries. They listened to her, smiling indulgently. Their eyes, however, revealed that they did not understand her thirst for knowledge. When she went quiet, they had finished their drinks and left the living room to sit at the table in the hotel restaurant. This time it was Sarah who pretended to be interested in her father's affairs and the inept pastimes of her mother-in-law. They were all eager for the meal to end.

The dessert arrived without them having exchanged more than platitudes. Sarah's parents regularly glanced around, encouraging each other to speak without ever taking the risk. Finally, while Sarah was going to lose patience and ask what this was all about, her father frowned, looking behind her.

"What are they doing here? We said at nine o'clock. I have to join them. Darling?"

"I'll take care of everything here," Irene assured him. "Go ahead, we'll join you."

Sarah turned to look at her father, who went at the entrance of the hall to join three men in their suits. He greeted them with a smile and pats on the shoulder were exchanged. Sarah turned away from the scene, fulminating.

"Really ? You managed to stall me before a business meeting in your ministers' schedules?"

"Really Sarah, don't act like a kid! It was you who said you couldn't free your afternoon for us. Your father was so happy to see you, you know? He simply did not have the choice to meet his future partners now that the contract is signed. And then, we thought you could spend the rest of the evening with Toby."

Sarah reluctantly nodded and poured herself a glass of water to digest her anger before speaking again.

"I hope this evening will go well for dad then."

The contempt she felt for him and her mother-in-law was almost not heard. Irene nodded distractedly as she turned her glass of wine between her hands. She wantend to ask something to her but Sarah wasn't going to help her. Never create obligations where you can avoid them. That was another thing that the goblins world taught her.

"Do you have friends Sarah?"

The question was not one she expected.

"A few, yes," she lied with confidence."

"It's good. Do you see them often?"

"Every day at the university. A little less now that the holidays have started."

The lie seemed to satisfy Irene. Sarah concentrated, preparing herself for the following lies and half truths. It had been like that for almost ten years. To pretend that all was well, that she had not given her brother away for a few hours of silence. Smile. Lie. Never reveal herself, being herself only in front of her books.

"Toby has no friends," eventually confess Irene.

"At school?"

"And even in the neighborhood. That's why we took him with us. It was a long trip, but there was nobody close enough to accept him for a few days."

Sarah had asked herself the question and judge a little less severely her mother-in-law. This woman suddenly seemed very tired.

"He must still have comrades with whom he gets along," Sarah insisted. "I was a reserved child, but I had a few comrades with whom I felt well."

"He does not even have that. His teacher told me he spends his time alone in the yard. He does not even play with his comrades. I enrolled him in a music class this year. His teacher says he is quite talented, but he has not heard three words from him since the first day. Even at home, he never says anything. I was advised to see a psychiatrist. Sarah, you've always been good with him.

Maybe you could try to find what's wrong?"

"I can try."

Sarah was worried. She was also strangely affected by her mother-in-law cry for help. It was the first time they really spoke, from adult to adult. Irene pressed the keys of her room into Sarah's hand and squeezed it briefly. She was almost trembling with emotion.

"I must join your father," she finally said. "You should go get Toby and send him to bed quickly."  
"I'm taking care of everything."

Sarah didn't try to finish her dessert. Her stomach seemed to contract and try to swallow itself. She left the table just after her mother-in-law and left the restaurant without looking at her father. All her thoughts were fixed on Toby. At the reception, she was directed to a small room where a dozen children played loudly while waiting for their parents. Toby was the only one to stand aside. He had grown a lot since the last time Sarah had seen him, almost a year ago, she realized with shame. He must be seven now. At the same time, he looked tiny for his age. She smiled when she saw him holding Lancelot in his arms. This teddy bear was definitely the favourite companion to us both. Then, she realized that her brother was clinging to it as if he were terrified. She approached without him noticing. He stared at the ground, frowning.

"Hey, Toby!" She whispered softly so as not to surprise him. "I miss you, you know?"

He then looked up, blinked several times and finally made her a smile.

"Sarah," he said solemnly.

"How are you?"

He did not answer. Sarah did not worry too much. She knew her little brother. He hated people. As a child, he screamed until he was allowed to go into hiding in his room when his parents invited people. Sarah took her hand to encourage him to get up, but he refused, clinging more fiercely to Lancelot. To drag him to their room, Sarah almost had to tear one of his hands from the bear body to grab it. Then he nearly threw himself on the ground in protest. He refused to move. Finally, Sarah had no choice but to take him in her arms and carry him to the elevator. He was heavy and made no effort to spread his weight better. In the elevator several people threw scornful looks at Sarah, reproaching her for giving in to the whims of such a big child. She ignored them ostensibly.

Once on the right floor, she wanted to put Toby on the ground, but this time he clung to her with all his strength, forcing her to a strange gymnastics to open the door of their room and close it. It was obviously his parents' room, but a door led to a second small room with a child bed. Toys were everywhere on the floor and Sarah almost impaled on the spear of a small wooden soldier when she went press the switch. When it was done, she dropped than she put Toby on his bed, exasperated. He went to sit cross-legged at the other end of the bed, Lancelot still pressed against his heart. He stared at the floor and didn't stop, even as Sarah crouched by his side, all anger gone.

"What is the problem, Toby?"

Her question remained unanswered. Sarah sighed and sat next to her brother on the bed. She had to think and stop panicking. While gently stroking Toby's hair, she could not help but think that she should have seen that he was not well. She had been living in England for three years, and she saw him barely three to four weeks a year. She had always noticed that he was a reserved child, more than she was at the same age. Before the fateful night, Sarah had been a child then a young girl quite playful and open. When he was left to himself, Toby stayed in his corner with his two or three favourite toys. If Sarah was there, he was playing with her, but only if she took the initiative. He preferred to sit near her and listen to her stories.

"Is everything going well at school? At home? You want to tell me something?"

Sarah insisted but Toby stayed silent. Usually, he spoke to her. Every summer when she came home, he had adorable stories to tell her, stories of birds and butterflies he told by whispering and stumbling over his words while drawing on the floor. This silence was totally new to Sarah.  
She could not help thinking that she was partly responsible. Since that night, she had always looked after her little brother the best she could, it was true. After that night, Toby stopped crying as soon as she hugged him, much to the chagrin of her mother-in-law, who did not understand how she could do it. Sarah had become his favourite and she was totally attached to him in return. Yet, she had abandoned him a second time. Every summer, she had told herself that, in spite of his shyness, everything would be fine for him and that to talk to him twice a week would be enough to show him all her love.

Perhaps she had been wrong to want to become an adult and overcome the fear that had gripped her that day. But it had seemed so reasonable to take her independence and move away. Toby needed to grow up surrounded by affection, but not to feel overwhelmed by his big sister. After all, when she had left the house, just after Toby's fourth birthday, he looked relieved that he did not have to endure the long hugs she gave him to reassure herself. She didn't know if she had hurt him more by leaving than by staying. Maybe it was her sense of guilt that spoke.

"Did I hurt you?" She asked and Toby turned his head slightly in her direction. "I hurt you a lot when you were little you know? I hated you. But I knew I was wrong and I love you, so please tell me what's wrong."

He did not answer but handed her Lancelot. Their eyes met for a moment before he fixed the ground again. Sarah sighed and took the old stuffed toy.

"Maybe what you need is just a good night's sleep. Jet lag is a plague."

It was not easy to prepare Toby for bedtime. He must have been exhausted because, in spite of his almost ten years, Toby was not able to put on his pyjamas alone and stormed as soon as Sarah tried to put Lancelot aside to help him. She finally managed to do it and joined him under the blanket to whisper the story of Ludo, the kind monster who helped children who did not speak. Toby fell asleep along the way. Sarah kissed him softly and suddenly realized it was the first time she had mentioned the Goblin world in front of her little brother. Until then, she had taken great care to invent stories that had nothing to do with her own adventure.

Once she was sure that he had fallen asleep, Sarah got up and pulled a flashlight from her backpack and a book. Then she turned off the light. However, she couldn't concentrate, the words seemed to dance on the page. She finally gave up and closed her eyes.

Sleep was long to come.


	2. A strange feeling

**Chapter 2 : A strange feeling**

The morning came and the noise in the next room woke Sarah up. Grudgingly, she got up, changed her clothes and picked up her things. When she was ready, she opened the door between the two rooms. Her father and mother-in-law just finished dressing.

"Ah! Sarah!" she exclaimed seeing her, then whispered so Toby could sleep a bit longer. "Did you talk to Toby?"

"I tried but in vain," said Sarah. "He said nothing and I never saw him react like that."

Irene's shoulders drooped and her father's eyes darkened.

"So his doctor may be right. He's mentally retarded."

Two terrifying words that Sarah had never considered. Her little brother was clever, not simple-minded like ... most goblins. Sarah was suddenly ashamed of her thoughts and angry with herself. Toby had nothing to do with these creatures. And even if he did, he was Sarah's brother. She wouldn't love him less.

"We will take him to see a specialist when we come back to America," sighed Irene. "I hoped that a change of air would do him good but it looks like this unknown hotel had the opposite effect."  
"Maybe I could stay for the day," Sarah proposed.

She had other plans for the day but Toby was more important.

"You don't have to. Your father's new client invited us to discover the English countryside. Toby is like you, nature has always calmed him. This trip will be good for him and if not, I promise to keep you informed. Maybe we could make a jump to Oxford tomorrow? We would love to see why you talk so much about this city."

Sarah gave up, too easily perhaps. In any case, she was not sure what she could do for poor Toby in the state she was in. What she needed was to be alone and think for a while, after emptying her head of worry and guilt.

A little ashamed and hesitant despite everything, she picked up her backpack.

"Call me tonight, okay? And even after your return home, if you have news, or even if you just need to talk."

Clumsily, Irene hugged her for a few seconds. Her father then went forward to do the same. When he let go, Sarah felt a hand grip her pants. Toby stared at the curtains behind her while giving her Lancelot with an imperative gesture.

"Toby, I can not take you Lancelot, it's your favourite toy. You do not even know when you'll see him again."

Her little brother handed it to her more vehemently. Overcome, Sarah reopened her bag to put Lancelot in between her books and her clothes from the night before. She tried to kiss Toby but he squirmed to escape her embrace. Sarah had to give up and contented herself with a brief kiss on his forehead. She said goodbye again to her father and mother-in-law for the last time, then left. The door slammed. Sarah hated that sound. It was like something was closing forever.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Sarah went back to Oxford. Discomfort and distress followed her steps. This time it had nothing to do with any presence attached to her. As soon as she got off the train, she went to the library. Even among the precious centenarian volumes, she loved to read, doubt kept her from concentrating. Twenty times she thought of giving up her research to take a train back to London. Guilt alone stopped her. The feeling that everything was her fault was growing in her stomach. She had snatched Toby from the goblin king, but for the first time in a long time, she wondered if she had brought him back intact. The day after her struggle with the labyrinth and its master, Sarah had examined her brother from all angles to be certain that he had not begun to turn into a goblin as the king had threatened. But no, his skin was still pink and his eyes were blue so Sarah was reassured. If not, she would have found a way back into the Underworld, as she had named it, and made Toby's torturer pay for it. That day, she cried, hugging Toby tightly, probably too much, but he did not cry in protest. It was the only time she had allowed herself to cry about this adventure.  
If Toby was unwell today, it might be her fault. Yes, Toby may have always been different. There should be thousands of strange children around the world and Sarah was willing to bet that most had never looked up to a different sky than that of the Earth. Sarah could not go back to London any more than she could have stayed at home if she had failed to bring Toby back. She wouldn't dare to meet the eyes of her family without being sure of the truth.

As she struggled to focus on a sentence she had already read ten times, Sarah realized that she could discover the answer here. She was in one of the greatest sources of knowledge about folklore. She could investigate. Looking up at the wall clock, Sarah realized that her epiphany came a little late. The library was soon going to close, and she was wasting her time pitying herself and trying to work on a thesis that had lost all importance in just a day. She should just accept this setback and return the next day to get serious work. Of the thousands of works on folklore, there must have been some that were relevant to Toby's case. And before that, she had her own books that she could consult at home.

She collected her notes of the day, then deposited the books she had scarcely consulted on the librarian's cart which was passing to remind the latecomers of the closing time. It was a young man she vaguely knew and who did not hide that he was very interested with her. Usually, Sarah pretended she hadn't noticed his advances.

"Good work today?," he asked in the clear hope of bringing the discussion to the topic that interested him.

"Quite good, but I'm falling behind," she lied, with a smile that could pass to sincere. "My teacher requires quick answers for an article he is working on and I'm drowning in my research."

"I can imagine," he grimaced with a look of compassion. "If I can help you..."

"It's very nice," Sarah smiled before frowning as if she suddenly had an idea. "Tell me, do you work tomorrow? If I arrive at eleven o'clock, could you put aside all that there is about changelings and kidnappings in European folklore?"

He winced slightly. Sarah wanted to laugh in his face, amused to see him fight between his attraction toward her and his desire not to double his work.

"It looks light a lot of work if you have no title to give me and I have archiving to do," he ends up saying. "What do I get in exchange?"

"I would be very grateful to you," promised Sarah, with a large smile.

This one looked more sincere than Sarah believed or the librarian was particularly gullible because he blushed and accepted with enthusiasm. Sarah had promised nothing. She had learned never to promise anything. A word bound you far too much. With one last smile, as false as the previous ones, Sarah wished the young man a good evening, picked up her notes and left the library.

Exhausted, she went on the first bus to her neighbourhood and struggled not to fall asleep against the window. After that, she went to her street, eyes fixed on the ground. It took her three try to open the lock and close the door. Finally, she began to climb the stairs when her landlady came out of her living room.

-Miss William, you received a call two or three hours ago. The same number as the last time.  
Weariness forgotten, Sarah rushed to the phone, barely taking the time to thank her landlady. The anxiety was nearly unbearable. This time, she was quickly transferred when she gave her parent's room number.

"Sarah, is it you?" asked her stepmother. "It's been two days since we've been trying to call you!"

Even though Irene had raised exaggeration to an art form, she must have been exhausted to make this kind of confusion. Sarah has promised herself to be indulgent. It must be difficult taking care of Toby when Irene was stressed from worry, especially if he had behaved all day as he had the night before.

"I told you I'd come back late today," she reminded her.

"Maybe. I forgot what you told I suppose. You're probably wondering why I call you.

"Not really. How is..."

"Your father and I are in England for two more days," her stepmother interrupted. We are on an unforeseen business trip. A colleague of your father had to withdraw. Your father has replaced him unexpectedly and is about to sign a big deal. The client invited us to visit the English countryside today, it was great. We're in London for two days more days, you have to come tomorrow. We could go shopping together and eat at the hotel. Your father miss you so much!  
"What are you talking about? We had this conversation two days ago! Hand me my father."  
There was silence, long enough for Sarah to start panicking, then she heard her father pick up the phone.

"Really, Sarah, what made you scream at Irene? I thought you had passed this kind of childishness."

Her father's voice should have been more reassuring to Sarah and the familiar reproaches suddenly seemed unbearable to her.

"I don't have time to lose with her. What is going on? How is Toby?"

"Who?"  
Suddenly, Sarah was thrust into her worst nightmare. She recalled the voice of the Goblin King. This was what he had promised her, before she entered the labyrinth and beat him at his own game. If she had abandoned Toby to him, no one would have remembered him. She collapsed along the wall, breathless. It could not be true.

"Do you know who Toby is?" She managed to ask, articulating each syllable.

"The name doesn't ring a bell. One of your friends at home?"

"It doesn't matter. Can you tell me what you did today with Irene?"

Sarah had gone beyond panic and despair. She couldn't even cry or scream her anger. Only one thought kept her sane, the certainty that she was the only one to have an idea of what was going on, the only one who could help Toby. She could not break.

"My client offered to let us discover the country before signing the contract tomorrow. If you had answered yesterday, you could have come with us. I'm sure you would have loved it."

Sarah preferred to ignore the accusation she heard in his voice.

"Where did you go exactly?"

"In Windsor Castle first, then Stonehenge, an old hill named Silbury and a stone circle at Avebury. A busy day, as you can see. My client loves old stones and archaeology."

Sarah had visited Stonehenge, of course, shortly after arriving in England, but had never visited the other sites. The great stone circle had made her too uncomfortable to repeat the experience.  
"Have you touched something on these old sites? A stone, an object, anything old, carved or engraved?"  
"Why such a question?"

"We had a seminar on it last month," Sarah improvised. "Those are old, abandoned places, and there are sometimes old microbes lying around. It's better not to touch anything."

The legends about humans being trained in another world after touching something magical were very present in Sarah's mind.

"I did not touch anything and Irene either. Do you think we are could have catch something?"  
Sarah took pity of her father. She was terrified, but that was not a reason to scare him back.  
"Well, it's a sort of popular theory right now, but nothing more. It could explain the cursed reputations of certain sites, the folklore. Some legends also say that it is better not to pronounce certain words and especially not to make promises and wishes in this kind of place. You have made no wish, I hope."

"That's nonsense."

"All the same, better be careful. Legends come from somewhere"

"Irene and I are too rational to make such hollow wishes."

"I imagine that if you were that kind of people, Irene would have wished twenty times that the goblins came to take me."

"Do not joke with this Sarah. You know how important family is to her."

Sarah was only half reassured. She had said the words. It wasn't hard to imagine her step-mother trying to calm Toby and wishing the goblins to take him if he kept behaving like a baby. Irene loved her family, perhaps, but had no patience for childishness. Yes, they could very well have done it and forgotten it. If that was the case, Sarah had no way of discovering it by talking to them.

"I know. I'm tired dad, can I call you back tomorrow? I'll let you know if I can free myself and come see you."

"Good night Sarah. I love you."

Sarah managed to say goodbye before hanging up. Despite her shaky legs, she went get back to her room, mainly because she didn't want to crumble in tears where she could be seen.

Once in safety in her room, she nearly tore her bag in her haste to find Lancelot. She hugged him tightly, wishing she had never agreed to take him back from Toby. Maybe he could have protected her little brother. All this was her fault, it must be. She just had to find out how and why to correct her mistake. She had no right to cry before bringing Toby back.

Without taking her hands off Lancelot, Sarah frantically searched her books for an answer. She was not ready. She didn't know enough. All these books contradicted each other and their authors had no idea of the reality of their subject of study. Sarah had left everything to study and be ready to fight if the Goblin King came to attack Toby again. All this for nothing. Enraged, she threw a book across the room and stopped herself from screaming.

She calmed down eventually and began to think a little more rationally. To submit to her inclinations for drama served nothing. In fact, she was better prepared than ever, even though it was still not enough. Everything she had ever learned could be useful, and her determination would be a better ally than her memory anyway.

And after all, she still had three allies to rely on, her oldest and most dedicated friends. She still did not know why she had not seen them for nearly five years, but she was sure they would respond to her distress and would keep their promise. She would do the same if they needed her.

"Hoggle. Ludo. Sir Didymus. I need you."

Nothing happened. Refusing to panic, Sarah remembered that in her teenage room, she was always facing her mirror when calling them. She ran to the bathroom and repeated her call.

In vain.

So far, Sarah had endured their absence by clinging to the idea that they had to look after her one way or another. If she did not see them anymore, maybe it was because she was an adult. From now on, she doubted it. More and more worried, she returned to her room and opened the window. The bowl of milk she had placed on the edge of it before leaving the day before was still there. However, for the first time since she had taken this habit, the bowl was still full. The milk had begun to curdle. Sarah cried in horror and frantically looked around for traces of her friends on the balconies and nearby roofs. When her eyes came to rest on the stone portal in front of her house, she nearly had a heart attack. The stone owl was gone. Another one, very much alive, had taken its place. This one had white, the feathers on its head and its wings spotted with brown.

"No!"  
Without meaning it, Sarah had cried in despair. She had been heard, as the animal spread its wings and flew straight to her. Sarah hastily closed the window to stop it. Her gesture was useless. The window shattered, fragments of glass flying in all directions. Sarah covered her face with her hands to avoid being hurt and felt glass splinters scratching her forearms. When she looked again, the owl had disappeared, replaced by the Goblin King.


	3. A King outside his realm

Chapter 3 : A king outside his realm

He was exactly like in her memories but also so much less and so much more. Less, because he no longer inspired her a feeling of abject terror. Sarah had beaten him once, that meant she could do it again. And more, because Sarah was an adult now and she could see the magnetic charm he was exuding. She never noticed it, before. The young woman had always known that she was the Goblin's King prey. Sarah remembered what he asked of her and what he offered in return. Despite this, she had been too innocent and frightened to really understand what he wanted from her. Had she realized she might not have dared to take one more step in the Labyrinth. Even today, he had the gaze and posture of a predator. The rags cloth he wore over a half-open shirt made him look even more dangerous.

He smiled at her, and she shuddered. His smile widened further. He made a curtsey and offered her his hand with and indolent gesture.

"What audacity, Sarah, to invite me to your house."

"I did not invite you," said Sarah, walking away.

She was afraid of touching him. Her heart was pounding, but he merely raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Really? You think you can teach me the rules of my kingdom?"

"You are not in your kingdom here, and I would never invite you anywhere on purpose."

"For your information, Sarah," he retorted in an ever-affable tone, "know that a sovereign always takes a little of his kingdom with him and that he is at home everywhere. This is our privilege."

"I prefer an elected leader."

He burst out laughing.

"Yes, it's one of your recent fads, is not it? It will not last. Your race likes to be dominated and subjugated. Well, are not you happy to see me?"

"I would rather know what you are doing here. Are you spying on me?"

The Goblin King had a great time and laughed again for a very long time. When he did stop, he took a moment to look at the room and raised a scornful eyebrow at the narrowness of the room and the minimalist decor Sarah was now fond of. After all, she had understood in his kingdom the danger of attaching yourself to memories and trinkets.

He stepped forward, and Sarah stepped back to stay out of reach. He ended up sitting on the desk as if it were a throne, carelessly sweeping Sarah's work and cavalierly put a foot on the bed. With his other boot, he gingerly lifted the quilt, sending a suggestive look in Sarah's direction. She looked away, her cheeks burning.

"Are you really surprised that I'm watching you?" He finally asked. "Do you know how many have defeated my Labyrinth? You alone."

"How long?"

"Since I came into his possession and even before. It never happened in goblin, fay or stone memory."  
Sarah had never been proud of what she had done that night. However, to know that she was the first to teach him something was most satisfactory. Like the girl she had been, she wanted to say that it had been a piece of cake. Of course, they both would know that she was lying and that she had never faced an enemy as implacable as the Labyrinth and its master. The only thing that was as tricky was to look Toby in the eyes the next day and every day since. But she did not dare to brave him, and Sarah remained silent. She had seen the consequences of his anger too many times.

"So, you watch me. I suspected it to be true. But still, I would like to know what you are doing here right now."

"Is it not obvious? I'm looking for three traitors, and I heard you call them. Where are they?"

"I do not know."

Again, he burst out laughing, but it was now a threatening sound. He moved his hand, and a cane appeared. He used it to lift the curtain and check that no one was hiding behind.

"As if these three could resist your call. If you were a flame, those insects would die under your touch crying with joy. Tell them to come. I will not tolerate them hiding. If they tremble with fear enough to my taste, if they crawl at my feet and tell me how they escaped, I might show them mercy."  
"Escaped !," she cried. "So you imprisoned them, monster? I knew there must have been a reason I didn't see them anymore."

"Be careful with your words, Sarah. I have never let anyone insult me more than once, and it's already the second time you've offended me. The third will mean death for you."

His posture was still nonchalant, but his eyes were as cold as ice, and his cane darted to Sarah's throat like a sword. She did not care. Her fear was gone now, replaced by a fury she did not want to control.

"Threats! That's all you can do, is it, threaten and destroy lives? My friends are not there, and if I knew you had imprisoned them, I would have come back and freed them."

The Goblins king jumped to his feet.

"Be careful, Sarah. You go too far."

"And you, did not you go too far when you kidnapped my brother again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do not pretend to be surprised. Toby is gone. My father and mother do not even remember his existence."

The Goblin King waved his hand and Sarah found herself unable to say another word. Shoving his hand through his hair, Jareth paced the room. Below the window, he retrieved the bowl of milk, fallen during his intrusion and ran his finger over its entire surface. He began to look his finger under every angle and smelled it. He did the same with the window and door jamb.

"How long have you put milk on your window?" He asked, waving his hand again.

"Since the beginning," replied Sarah, relieved to have found her voice. They loved the attention.  
"Yes, it's a weakness of the Goblins," he admitted with contempt. "I'm sure they feasted, the first year. But since their imprisonment, others have become accustomed to finishing off their plate. Goblins and fairies who are not mine by the smell."

"Not yours? But then..."

He silenced her again with a gesture.

"Can you please show some judgment for five minutes? Did you really think that your little adventure had gone unnoticed? All the kingdoms have talk of nothing but this for the last six years. There even were a song or two. You are watched and spied on, and not only by me. You should be thankful: I have scared off the most obsessive of your admirers long ago."

It may be the truth, but Sarah did not doubt that she had felt Jareth's presence more than once in recent years, and it was so haunting that it scared those around her. He had frightened some people she did not want in her life but only to keep her to himself. She saw very well what the Goblin king was doing. He tried to flatter her ego or stir up her anger to keep control of the situation. She was not going to let him.

"You insinuate that it's my fault. That I drew those other goblins here and that it's my fault that Toby has disappeared."

She hadn't taken the bait, but he rushed to the one she was holding out for him. He knew she might be quick to anger, but she could stir up his urge to feel superior, to prove to her that she was the ignorant one. She could take advantage of this to learn something.

"They would have watched you even without that."

"What do I have that is so interesting?"

"You? Nothing. You are insignificant. Their target his me."

Sarah's ego could have been crushed if she had not expected something like that to come out of his mouth. But Jareth's ego was a bit excessive. She was going to protest, but he raised his hand to stop her.

"This does not concern you anymore. Go back to your pathetic little life."

He began to look at the window's edge with some kind of curiosity. Sarah glanced at him. Her brother had disappeared, and he thought she could give up? His inhumanity had never been so obvious. She said nothing and retrieved her bag, which she had left on the ground without bothering to empty it when she came home. She took out her change of clothes to replace it with a metal box filled with biscuits, a bottle of water, a few books and Lancelot. After a moment of reflexion, she opened a drawer of her dresser, pulled out a box and added it to the bag before closing it. Finally ready, she walked with a firm step towards the door. The Goblin King, who kept an eye on her while checking the dust on the floor, apostrophized her.

"I think I gave you an order, Sarah."

"And I think I'm not one of your subjects," said Sarah as she opened the door. "I don't have to take orders from you. I'm going to get Toby back."

The door handle escaped her hands. It closed, and the key turned itself in the lock. Outraged, Sarah turned around. The Goblin King had moved silently and stood right behind her.

"You are not reasonable, Sarah", he whispered while putting a hand on her.

"Not when it comes to my brother," she said, freeing her hand from his grip. "I have an idea of where he disappeared, and you will not stop me from going there."

"And then? How do you plan to leave your world? Do you know how to enter the Underground? Where will you look for your brother? You have no idea what you are doing."

"And you do?"

Sarah had asked the question without thinking, but she realized it was the only one that really mattered. Jareth said that Toby's kidnapping was an attack against him even if he discovered it a few moments ago. He spied on her and wasn't surprised that others did. Even more, Toby's disappearance has surprised him only for a few seconds. It could only mean one thing: he was expecting something of that sort. So, he had an interest in all of this. And if he really were targeted, his pride alone would drive him to act. On the other hand, it was clear that he wanted her to stay where she was. Sarah smiled. To her satisfaction, this time, he shivered for half a second. He was the one affected.

"You were not going to just sit by. You have to get Toby back."

"Do not be ridiculous. What would I care about a human child's fate?"

"Nothing, but he's my brother, and I care. I don't know a thing about the politics of your kingdoms, but I know I'm right. Someone wants to insult you, isn't it? So you have to act."

"And that's what I'll do if you stay in your place. They want you to come. Then they'll capture you and prove they are better than me to captivate a human."

He used that word, captivate, as if it were synonymous with capturing. Or even worse. For his kinds, perhaps it was one. Sarah's smile widened as she challenged the Goblin king.

"And they will succeed you can't keep me here. Close the doors, block the windows, I will start a fire to escape, or my friends will finally hear my call and free me."

He made a threatening gesture towards her.

"I could also lock you in the centre of my kingdom."

"No, you can't," she denied confidently. "There are rules. I defeated your Labyrinth, just and fair. You can't take me there again. Otherwise, you would have done it already to punish me for my victory. No, you'll have to go knowing that I'll escape and that if I get caught, your humiliation will be second to none."

Jareth gave her a long, angry, calculating look. Sarah refused to look away and watched him weigh his chances. Finally, his gaze softened and become a caress. To Sarah, it was worse than the threatening.

"You're smarter than I expected you to become all these years ago," he admitted, simulating boredom.  
Sarah did not take the bait and continued to attack.

"There is another solution, though. I could accompany you."

The Goblin King's eyes gleamed with an unpleasant eagerness. He took a step toward her and was now so close that Sarah's pulse quickened. He leaned over as if to kiss her but changed his mind at the last second, much to Sarah's relief. She wouldn't have stopped him. She needed him too much. The fact that his perfume and his eyes' magnetism frightened her was a trivial thing.

"It would be just as humiliating," Jareth thought aloud. "The master of the Labyrinth and the city of Goblins accompanied by a girl? I can already hear the laughs. But ... You could beg me to be your guide for your quest."

"Would you do it?"

"Beg me."

His smile widened as he sat down in the chair as if it were a throne. Sarah tried to calculate him. That was her suggestion, but she wanted to be sure she could trust him. He did not take Toby away, but that did not mean he was not responsible for his situation, and Sarah still hated him. She did not really have a choice, though. The mere idea of venturing alone into the Underworld made her froze. Swallowing all that remained of her pride, Sarah knelt down.

"Oh Goblin's King, master of the Labyrinth, would you do me a favor to serve as my guide and to help me in my quest to find my brother and bring him safely to his parents? I can't do it alone."  
Flattery visibly pleased Jareth, who applauded three times, then reached out to grab a strand of Sarah's hair and caress her head.

"I could do it, but what would you give me in return for that favour? What are you willing to give in exchange for your brother?"

"Almost everything, you know it," Sarah acknowledged.

"And if that's what I want?"

His voice was hoarse, and he shivered in anticipation as he leaned toward her. Sarah looked at him for a moment longer, then gave up.

"I will give you everything you ask if I can put two conditions."

"So, after the rescue of your brother, you will accompany me in my domain where you will reside until the end of your days?"

"Yes," Sarah agreed firmly, trying to ignore the need to puke. As long as I have my own apartments and my own servants that I would choose. And you'll swear that you'll continue to protect Toby and his parents every time this kind of threat happens again."

He burst out laughing, stood up to curtsy and applauded again.

"Well, Sarah! You're becoming quite good at this game. I will be your guide, and I accept your conditions."

He offered her a hand, and she gave her, accepting his help to get up. While giving her a caressing glance, he kissed her hand. Sarah fight to not cry. He did not come to get that from her, but both knew he had won. His revenge was complete now that Sarah had sworn to belong to him. However, if Toby were found safe and sound, Sarah would consider herself the winner.

"Will we go now?" She managed to ask bravely.

He raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Where?"  
"Silbury Hill, Avebury, Stonehenge," she said on her fingers. "He was there with my parents. That's where he disappeared, I guess."

"Interesting theory, which restricts the scope of possibilities. But we have another stop to make first. Take my hand and do not be afraid."

Sarah was and could not open her mouth to pretend otherwise. He held out a hand in which was placed a crystal ball. Sarah shivered involuntarily. She had too many bad memories related to those things. However, it was too late to backtrack, and she was almost sure to have found the right words to be sure of Jareth's cooperation. A sudden thought made her want to laugh. She said she wanted to study the power of words in Western folklore. Not loving the half-measures, she went straight to a practical study. Reinvigorated by that idea, she reached out and touched the sphere.

Everything blurred around her and Sarah thought she heard a strange noise, like many wings far away, just for a second before she felt hundreds of feathers swirling around her. Finally, everything stopped, and Sarah opened her eyes, her legs shaking, to discover herself in her parents' hotel room. To her relief, they were not there. She couldn't begin to imagine how to explain them her unexpected arrival or the presence of a man all dressed in black and purple leather. Of course, without Toby, they must be busy savouring the London nightlife. She tried not to blame them. It was not their fault that Toby had disappeared, or not only. It was mostly her's.

The young woman sat down to try to keep her nausea at bay. It was caused by her strange displacement, but not only. So far, she had always seen Jareth as her implacable enemy. She was not sure how much she could trust him. And then, the use of magic, even to her benefit for once, left her uneasy. She did not want to rely on the one thing which took Toby away. Twice. Maybe she did not have a choice, but it did not make the situation easier to accept.

While she tried to collect herself, her companion searched the two rooms, turning them upside down and ran his finger across all surfaces. He came back to her, thoughtful.

"It seems you were right, as unlikely as it sounds, he did not disappear here. However, his captors have left some traces, and this limits the possibilities. Are you sure of the places your family went?"  
Sarah nodded silently. She was still worried about Toby, but now she felt some sort of academic excitement.

"So it's true, what the folklore says? These places are gateways to the fairy world? But you didn't need one to take Toby."

The King of Goblins dismissed the argument with a hand gesture. He was so indifferent Sarah wanted to scream.

"Humans cannot always be wrong, and your ancestors were often less stupid than you are these days. If we are not invited, as you did when you urged me to take your brother, we have to take byways. Ancient sites are not an obligation, but we have always loved traditions. Stonehenge has not been used for a long time, except by the populace. The place is too busy. Avebury and Silbury have their regulars users, though."

He reached out for her hand. Sarah sat up and grabbed it reluctantly now that she knew what to expect. The travel was a difficult moment, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in the middle of a field surrounded by a series of standing stones. A road crossed it, and some houses stood in the middle. Gray and brown owl feathers fell around them. Sarah immediately let go of Jareth's hand and walked away from him. The Goblin King sniffed the atmosphere and smiled.

"There has been a recent passage," he commented with delight. "We are in the right place."

"How do you know?"

Sarah reluctantly accepted the gallant hand and let him guide her to one of the larger stones. Jareth put a gloved finger on it before handing it to Sarah for inspection. It was covered with glittering dust.

"They have not been careful enough in covering their tracks, which tends to prove that they want to be followed, by you or by me. And a frightened human child leaves a particularly easy-to-spot smell. Your brother was standing there when he was captivated. Of course, since then, they'll have arranged for him to be no longer afraid and we will not be able to track him once we cross the door."

Sarah was horrified, and she couldn't stop looking at him. With his royal manners, he almost make her forget that he was a monster. He talked about kidnapping children as if it was a common thing to do and the idea that Toby's fear could be tracked? She was petrified.

Finally, she turned her attention to the stone so she would not have to look at her companion. For the first time this evening, Sarah really realized that she was going to venture into the Underworld again. She thought back to her first time there. The walls closing behind her,the hands grabbing her to rush her into a dungeon, the traps and armies waiting for her at every corner. She shivered. The Goblin King released her arm, only to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you scared, Sarah?", he whispered in her neck.

"No."  
"Yes, you are" he laughed. "All the better, otherwise I would not give much of your chances of success."

He embraced her, pressing his chest against Sarah's back. She wanted to protest, to escape, but he held her firmly, and the world shifted. The stones were still there, but the sky above them was bright red. The field was now a hill that floated above a misty swamp. The village and the road were gone. Wherever she looks, Sarah saw only water and lanky trees. With a violent wave of her shoulder, Sarah freed herself and turned to stare furiously at the Goblin King.  
"My chances of success? Should not you say our chances? I thought you were there to help me, you promised me."

"Of course, and I will do it, Sarah, but there are rules to follow. Last time, did your companions do everything for you?"

Sarah pondered her answer.

"They helped me yes, but not the same way. Hoggle was my guide and advised me. Ludo and Sir Didymus fought for me."

Those two fought, yes, but neither of them had guided or advised her, even though they were as familiar with the Labyrinth as was Hoggle. They helped her with the stones magic and the spear. And Hoggle? He had never fought for her. Sarah realized that everything in the Underworld was governed by rules. It was not the chaos she'd thought she'd face in the past. If she could grasp the logic of these rules, she would have already half won.

"I can guide you," said Jareth, "or advise or fight for you, but I can only do one of the three. The choice is yours."

The first solution was stupid. It was not his kingdom and, even if Jareth knew the way Toby and his kidnappers went, no doubt that this land's master would find a way to make them lose their direction. She had no idea if he was a capable warrior. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she thought he was a coward, hiding behind his walls and his goblins. Besides, it was her duty to fight for Toby. The man who had kidnapped her brother once could not sincerely fight for him. But he could guide or assist her in her fight.

"Your advice will be useful to me."

He bowed with reverence. Sarah looked around them, looking for something that would tell her where to go. It was in vain, all the trees looked alike, and the fog grew stronger. She had to make a decision though, so she decided to move on to what seemed to be the south. She glanced at Jareth, but his face was blank, and he did not reveal what he thought of her decision.


	4. Beyond the stones

**Chapter 4 : Beyond the stones**

Sarah and Jareth walked in silence for a long time, wading in the swamp's mud. They were moving slowly, mostly because Sarah had to regularly avoid the roots under her feet. She could have sworn they were trying to make her stumble, and it became a certainty when she felt one of them wrap around her ankle and pull her back viciously.

Sarah would have fallen into the water if Jareth had not held her. He even let her lean on him as she struggled to free herself from the root. She gave him a silent thank you while she was regaining her breath.

"I'd prefer my companion to remains presentable. Mud in the hair is good for goblins, not for humans girls."

"You were a lot less helpful last time," Sarah retorted. "What happened, did you grow a heart?"  
The face of the Goblin King darkened. He let go of her and Sarah almost lost her balance. She knew she should not have provoked him. She needed him too much right now.

"The last time, you wanted me to be your enemy, Sarah. You wanted me to be the villain of your lovely little story where you were the heroine who fearlessly faced the terrible Goblin King to free your brother. So yes, I was the villain because you refused to acknowledge that you were the bad guy. Didn't I made a good culprit?"

These words sounded like a slap to Sarah, especially since she had often secretly thought that. She clenched her teeth to contain her scream, ignored her guide and continued to walk. She would not give him the satisfaction of showing that he had hurt her. Behind her, Jareth laughed softly and followed her. Sarah made a point of not speaking to him or even look at him as she continued to move forward with determination. But the walk quickly became exhausting and, more than once, she reluctantly accepted his hand to stabilize herself.

Out of breath, her legs aching, she finally let herself fall down against a dead tree and grabbed her bottle of water in her bag. It was divinely refreshing in her mouth, but she dared not drink more than a few sips. She had to save it. Everyone knew you did not drink water or eat food from the Underworld. When she had recovered a little, Sarah looked around her. The swamp did not seem to end. It was just water and dead trees all around her. She looked back and almost cried when she realized that the island she had left for an hour at least was about thirty paces behind her.

"It's not fair, is it?"

The Goblin King did not try to hide his amusement. Sarah put back her bag on her shoulders and straightened up, but did not try to walk away. It was obviously useless. It was not the good way to get closer to her brother.

"Of course it's not fair. Your kind is never fair, are they?"

"It's against all our principles," he whispered in her ear like it was a secret.

"Because you have some?" asked Sarah.

She refused to show him the effect he has on her with his whispers.

"Some. You should ask."

"What are your principles? Never. I would be too afraid of the answer."

"I am your guide, Sarah. But I cannot help you if you do not ask me questions."

He looked almost as frustrated as she was, so Sarah stopped herself from retorting sharply. Besides, he was right. Again. If she had to endure his company, she should make use of him. She had dozens of questions to ask him, about this world, the labyrinth, Toby and herself. She just asked the two most urgent ones.

"The last time you gave me a time limit to find Toby. Is this the case this time too, and then, how am I supposed to know the delay? And how the hell do we get out of this swamp? There is nothing and nobody there."

"What question do you want me to answer?"

Sarah had not expected this answer, which was not helpful at all, and glared at him before realizing he was absolutely serious. He could not answer them both because it was not permitted. His role as a guide was going to be even more limited than she thought.

"The first one."

"Your time is short, of course, but I've got good news for you. I know how we kings and queens of the Underworld act. To add insult to insult, I'm sure they'll have left you more time than I had to prove their superiority over me. After all, sovereigns like to ridicule their rivals. Still, they can shorten the time if you insult them enough. I know it will be hard for you, but try not to antagonize them. You will have clues anyway."

These words awakened a memory buried in Sarah's mind. A ballroom where she danced. A clock that had reminded her of the moment and made it possible to escape the trap in time.

"Of course," she murmured. "You're required to leave clues. This is not arrogance, you have to do so to balance the chances just a little bit. This allows you to reinforce the idea that we can succeed, but it's just an illusion, is it? You respect some principles and violate all others."

Jareth's sparkling eyes and half-smile confirmed her suspicions. And then, she realized Jareth's information applied to more than her deadline. Sarah looked more closely at the swamp. The trees, she realized, were all exactly the same, a thick trunk with three big main branches rising from a hollow at the top. She had not noticed it, too busy watching for the dangerous roots.

"The oubliettes have doors hidden inside," she murmured. "Crystal balls can be broken to escape. I wandered in an infinite straight line through your labyrinth before I find the real entrance. We are in a vestibule."

Suddenly feeling better, Sarah grabbed a branch to climb the closest tree. If there was a passage, it was in the ridge or between the roots, under the water. She hoped it was the first. Relieved, she found a hatch in the hollow between the branches and lifted it. The interior was dark. She tried to stand up to signal Jareth she found the answer, but the hole suddenly widened, and she fell, screaming.

Fortunately, her long fall was stopped when she fell on a sort of spongy carpet formed of vines. Moments later, Jareth landed there with more grace than Sarah. He seemed to be having a blast. Sarah choose to ignore him to observe their surroundings. The position seemed very precarious, and it was better to abandon it as soon as possible. Vines sprang from this nest in all directions. Jareth could have given her some advice, but Sarah preferred to keep his help for more crucial questions.

She grabbed a vine that went down into the darkness and slid away just in time. The lianas of the nest were already assembled to form a mouth ready to devour it. In the centre of it, the Goblin king turned into an owl and began to fly to join her. Sarah took a deep breath and let herself slide.  
The fall was so long that the vine's contact put her hands in blood. Most of the time, she couldn't see anything around her, not even the vine she was holding. When the darkness receded, she saw a dark cave that became a narrow passage on which she injured her knees and shoulders. Finally, the narrow pass led to a corridor with stone walls. Sarah dropped on the floor. At the end of the corridor, there was a door, and it was slightly open. Above it, was a monumental clock which indicated not twelve or even thirteen hours on display, but twenty-seven. Jareth was right, and Sarah allowed herself to breathe normally again. She had time. But she was still worried, and she began to run to the door. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, struck by a sudden realization.

She was alone.

Worried, Sarah went back under the tunnel from which she had emerged, and she scanned the darkness. The liana was still there, but she heard nothing, not even a flutter of wings.

"Jareth?", she finally called.

A violent wind blew from the narrow passage, and she almost fell. This was her only answer.

Sarah did not linger to think about it. Jareth had abandoned her or had been separated from her, but she couldn't wait for him. Her only objective was Toby. Even more determined, Sarah pushed the door. If she was in the house of the kidnapper, she only had to explore it from top to bottom.

Perhaps the house, or maybe the castle, wasn't a labyrinth. Still, it was just as confusing, Sarah decided when she collapsed, exhausted, under a crystal clock that announced that she had twenty-one hours to succeed. She had wandered for hours, and she wasn't further advanced. She had tried to draw a card on a paper she found at the bottom of her bag, but nothing made sense. Some windows showed the outside, a purple moor under two pale white suns. Sarah had turned three times to the right, but every time the two suns were exactly in the same place as if there were no east, west, north, or south. On her map, rooms of different sizes and shapes overlapped on the same level, but if she turned around, the rooms were still the same. It was as if each room occupied its own dimension without worrying about any architectural logic. Disgusted, Sarah threw away her pen.  
She was thirsty but did not dare to take out her bottle. It was more than half empty yet, and Sarah could not help but think of Proserpine and her pomegranate and Jareth's peach. Eating or drinking something from here could be deadly, or worse. She would not take the risk. Thirst, hunger, she could live with it.

Fatigue ... It was something else. Sarah was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Last night, she had barely slept, and it began to weigh on her shoulders. Her feet hurt since the swamp and her hands sting from the rope. She dreamed of sleeping, just for five minutes. Five minutes, it could not be so dangerous.

She closed her eyes but stopped herself immediately. She had to resume her exploration, she couldn't be weak. She could not. Sarah sat up.

The corridor she chose to take was dark and unpleasant, but she had already explored the other two passages that were leaving the room where she was standing. She engaged in it, carefully. So far, she had not met any inhabitant of the castle. It made her more and more nervous. Obviously, traps were waiting for her.

She wondered by what miracle she had not started any yet. Then she heard a sound that awfully looked liked a child crying nearby. Sarah froze, then rushed in that direction. Toby needed her, now. Still running, she opened the door in front of her while frantically searching for her brother's. She stepped forward and did not think to look at her feet before it was too late. She fell screaming in terror, unable to see anything.

When she hit a water surface in a loud crash, she briefly lost consciousness. The cold water rushing into her lungs soon brought her back to herself, and Sarah swam to the surface. She spat out some of the water she'd accidentally swallowed then swam in the dark. Silently, she begged tho find the end of what was probably a lake before she was too cold to move. Her swimming created an echo far away. The lake was huge, and the ceiling very high.

Finally, Sarah reached the shore of this subterranean lake and found a gravel beach under her feet. She moved away from the water, just enough to feel safe and slid into unconsciousness.

Sweet music awoke the young woman, and she opened her eyes. Expecting to find herself in darkness and on a bed of pebbles, she was surprised to discover herself in silk sheets. She was wearing the same clothes, but they were dry, and she would have sworn that her left sleeve, had been torn a few hours earlier. Now, it was intact. Her bag lay on the floor next to her bed. As she straightened up, she put a hand to her forehead. It hurt, but someone put bandaged on her wound. Earlier, she was so scared she did not even realize she was hurt.

A curtain of pearls rose in a soft tingle. Sarah turned to see a dozen smiling girls in gorgeous silk dresses. She mistrusted them immediately. The girls were smiling too much, and when she looked at them from the right angle, it was evident that they were not human. Their smiles make them look like snakes.

Did they think they could seduce her where the Goblins King had failed?

To give the change, Sarah smiled at them and stood up to pay her respects in turn. The girls laughed loudly while exchanging satisfied looks. They caressed her face and gave her comforting words. It was an obvious trap, but one you could get caught to none the less if you were not careful enough. The fifteen-year-old Sarah would have been seduced by these comforting faces, relieved to find compassion and kindness far from her enemies. However, Sarah was now an adult and educated. She allowed herself to be comforted and pretended to follow the girls when they invited her to choose a dress among dozens. All were more elegant and less practical than the others. As soon as they began to take these dresses out, Sarah seized her chance, grabbed her bag and rushed to the door.  
She did not go far. Clawed hands, covered with scales, seized her and pulled her back. Sarah clung desperately to her bag and tried to pull away from their clutch, in vain. One of the girls, now obviously snake-like, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. Another forced her mouth open and made her swallow something sticky and bitter. Sarah tried to spit out, but they only let go of her head when they were sure that Sarah had ingested what they had made her eat and that she would not vomit. Satisfied, they released her and Sarah fell to the floor, nauseous. Around her, the walls were shaking. The colours seemed to blend into each other. A hand grabbed her face, and one of the girls stared while tracing two deep cuts on her cheeks with her claws. Sarah could not distinguish her features. Everything was blurring.

"Common, even for a mortal," murmured a woman's voice with disappointment. "I was expecting something a little more exceptional. Your name?"

"Sarah," she said in a slurred voice, half-conscious that she should shut up.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

She did not answer. She had no idea. She was Sarah, but she knew nothing else about herself. Yet she should have known. She was there for a reason, but she couldn't remember it right now. All she knew was that she had something to do, urgent, that the hour was ticking and that she was not going to succeed if she did not even remember what she was doing. Panic overwhelmed her, cutting her breath. Sarah cried. A hand rested on her back and began to caress her. Someone hummed to soothe her and helped her up.  
"It does not matter. You know what? You can leave here you want. You just have to find yourself."  
She was pushed into a new room where the light was so intense that Sarah closed her eyes. There was a loud burst of laughter and the sound of a door being shut, then she was left alone. Gradually, her nausea faded, and the world stopped spinning. Looking around, Sarah realized that she was standing in the centre of a room with eight walls, all covered with dozens of human-sized mirrors. She saw herself reflected in all of them. At least, she assumed it was her because the reflections mirrored her gestures. Yet she did not recognize herself in any of them, and all were different from each other. Some of the Sarah were adults, some other children or old women. All returned her frightened look.

"Only one of them is me, is it?"

Nobody answered.

With hesitation, Sarah stepped toward a mirror. Her wrinkled face gave her an uncertain but reassuring smile. She did not feel old, but maybe she was. The burden she felt on her shoulders could be her age. No, this Sarah looked happy, and she did not feel like it. It was not her.

"Are you sure about that?"

She was. Almost. Just as she was almost sure she wasn't one of the child Sarah, the one with the happy smile in her pink lace dress, or the one who cried without being able to stop, nor the one with the pierced jeans and the insolent look.

"Are you this one then?"

A mirror began to shine more than the others. The mirror Sarah was fifteen years old and wore a beautiful white ball gown. She was stunning as Sarah had always dreamed of being, not like some other reflections. It was the Sarah she wanted to be, beautiful, attracting the light on her like a flame. Sarah came closer, hypnotized, admiring her proud expression, her perfect hair and the way the jewels cascaded in it. She was so close to the reflection that her breath was settling on the mirror. Then, she noticed that this Sarah's look was looking so empty that she might as well have been dead. Disgusted, she turned away and stared at the opposite wall. A laugh accompanied her movement.  
"It's time to choose."

The threat was evident in the voice that popped up from all sides and seemed to bounce off the mirrors. Sarah took a deep breath and put her hand on a mirror where her reflection, dressed in a stern suit and her arms laden with books, gave her a satisfied smile. Instantly, the mirror disintegrated into dust, revealing a corridor in which Sarah rushed. She ran to a door, opened it, and found herself again in the mirror room.

"Bad choice."

These words, the voice repeated them over and over again while Sarah mistakenly recognized herself as a frightened girl, a middle-aged woman in a black dress, a dishevelled young woman with mad-eyed eyes and dozens of others. At each wrong choice, she ended up in the same room again and again, except that the mirrors, the choices multiplied, the room becoming immense and her image reflected everywhere, always distorted and never right.

Sarah finally froze in the centre of the room, desperately searching for a sign telling her who she was among the hundreds of reflections that weighed her with sarcastic indifference. She must have been there somewhere. She had to.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a reflection different from the others. She turned again and again, but whatever she did, the strange reflection was still on the periphery of her vision, as if deliberately trying to prevent her from seeing it. Sarah forced herself to stop looking for it and, intentionally, stared at another reflection. Looking vaguely in that direction, she could glimpse the one that interested her. She had to struggle to look indifferent as she realized what was wrong with it.  
She was not alone on this reflection.

There was a second shadow behind her, tall and dark, that seemed to envelop or hug her.

Sarah could not see its face and could not tell if the gesture was tender or threatening. It could be a trap. It was probably one. However, if they tried to make sure that she did not notice it, it might be something else. A clue. She took a deep breath, certain that she would not be given another chance. She ran, wringing her neck, so her looked stayed fixated on the first mirror. At the last second, she hit the one she had chosen, and her and Jareth's reflection exploded into millions of shards of glass.

No, she wanted to shout, it's not me, it's not part of me. Convinced that she had made a mistake, she continued running, pretty sure she would end up again in the mirrors' room. But the hallway continued, she remembered Jareth and Toby, the labyrinth, and herself and finally, she realized that she had won this test. Exhausted and disoriented, Sarah stopped running, dropped to the ground and fell asleep almost immediately.


	5. The moor

**Chapter 5 : The moor**

Sarah woke up suddenly when a hand shook her shoulder.

"My second piece of advice, if you want to hear it", mocked the king of the Goblins, "is to never to fall asleep in this sort of place without someone to watch over you."

She blushed in shame. He was right, of course, but when Sarah sat up, she glared at her guide. She was tired, thirsty, hungry and injured, all because he had abandoned her. She didn't need a mirror to realize the pitiful spectacle she had to offer. Her arms were covered with cuts from when she destroyed the mirror. Her shirt was now more red than white. And while she was being mistreated by the castle and its inhabitants, he had found time to change. He was now dressed in dark leather which added to the pallor of his face. He must think he had a very romantic look dressed like that, but Sarah was too annoyed to be moved by his false heroic air.

"And where were you during this time? I wouldn't be so tired if I didn't have to get out of these infamous traps all by myself. It's true, I should have known. Our previous meeting made me realize that you were a coward."

He pinched his lips and raised a hand as if to hit her, but stopped halfway.

"Beware, Sarah or..."

"Oh, did I offended your poor little ego? You'll have to recover. Or will you abandon me? It wouldn't make a difference, I thought you had done so already."

He did not reply but leaned over and forced her quite brutally to turn around. She was going to protest but stopped when he began to search her bag then hand her a biscuit box. Sarah gave in to her common sense and began to fill her stomach, but she still glared at him. Fortunately, when she had fallen in the lake, the water had spared the metal box. The cookies had remained dry. The first bite was so good. She soon felt better, although she was still angry. Jareth reached out, and Sarah tried to back away from him, but he stopped her attempt. Refusing to listen to his protests, he undid her head bandage and examined her wound.

"I had to leave you, Sarah," he whispered tenderly. "Even with a guide, it is traditional for the human being who ventures into the Underworld to be abandoned for a time to be tested. Be glad I did it at the start of your adventure. It could have been worse."

"I almost lost myself. My memories and everything", retorted Sarah.

They were things he didn't tell her, she was sure. Jareth was a liar. Nevertheless, she felt less resentful. Jareth noticed this and smiled while he used a silk scarf to made her a new bandage. He had brought up out of nowhere.

"As if a strong young woman like you could forget who she was. I'm not surprised, but I'm curious. What clue helped you to remember?"

She would never answer that, but Sarah couldn't help blushing. Fortunately for her, the Goblin King was too busy wrapping her arm to notice.

"Where have you been all this time?" She asked to divert his attention.  
Besides, she was curious.

"Here and there," he replied nonchalantly. "By the way, I found some useful information, including the confirmation of your brother's kidnapers identity. You must be careful. These people are dangerous opponents, even for me."

These words had the effect of an electric shock on Sarah. She wanted to sit up, but Jareth's iron grip prevented her.

"I still have to take care of your other arm. The clock is ticking, but you wouldn't want Toby to see you in this state."

"Don't you dare use Toby against me! You don't have that right after what you wanted to do to him."

"Beloved Sarah, everyone uses him against you, including your parents. If someone mentions him, you come running, ready to fight or to sell yourself. It is almost annoying. Redundant, even. I am surprised that you still manage to entertain me."

Sarah thought she heard jealousy in his voice. She had to fight to contain her laugh. He usually treated her as a child, but his behaviour was so childish sometimes. Did he really think she could appreciate him, after what he had done to her family? If so, that was the greatest mystery of the Underworld.

"I heard you, but I'll not change to please you. Toby is and always be the most important thing to me. Pleasing you? It's at the very bottom of my priority list. Did you manage to see Toby? Is he fine?"

"I have absolutely no idea as I don't know where he is being held. But you'll be interested to know that I'm familiar with his captors. Their tricks and the creatures who serve them betrayed them to me. They are called Those of the Moor, because of their domain.

Sarah thought about her vast knowledge of British, European and even American folklore, but the name didn't mean anything to her, just like she had never met Jareth's in a book before. The titles of Goblin's King and master of the Labyrinth were only mentioned in some obscure myths. Sarah realized how much she had fooled herself. She though literature and folklore would help her, but she was wrong. Jareth really seemed to be her only chance to get Toby back. Jareth, and the lessons she had learned here and in the Labyrinth.

How ironic. For years, Sarah had feared that her brief visit to the goblins would have unconsciously traumatized her brother. Today she was sure of it, and yet she counted on the culprit to help her. One day, she would make him pay and demand that he healed Toby, but not now. It was a battle she would fight once her brother was safe.

"The title doesn't mean anything to me", she confessed. "Do they have another name?"

"Of course, but I don't know it."

"They rule this place, right?" Sarah wondered. "I thought you knew the other sovereigns of the Underworld. Or are you not important enough for that?"

Her mockery earned her a wrathful look.

"You don't know what you're saying, little idiot. You don't know enough to defend yourself here, let alone make fun of it. In these places, names are dangerous to pronounce. Anyone who uses a name can be enslaved by its owner."

"You say my name all the time."

His gaze became distant as he shrugged and stood up.

"I'm already under your spell," he replied fatally. "Saying it a hundred more times won't change anything."

There was such sadness in this confession that Sarah was breathless and her throat tied for a few seconds. For a moment, she almost felt sorry for him, but that feeling quickly disappeared. She straightened up too and adjusted her bag over her shoulders.

"You'll earn nothing by saying such things."

"Who tells you that I am looking for something to gain?"

All their shared history said so, but Sarah said nothing. She doubted a man who thought that promising to become a woman's slave if she belonged to him body and soul was an act of love could be convinced.

She preferred to continue to explore the area in silence. Jareth didn't take offence at her rudeness and followed her, humming a seductive dance tune. Sarah refused to be tempted by this air. She had something else to do.

While Jareth was attending to her wounds a little earlier, Sarah had carefully observed the corridor where they were. She was sure she had been there before. She recognized the carpet on the floor with its faded patterns and its burn near the door. However, when she passed that door, the next room was unknown to her. It was a music room with a silver harp that sat in the centre. Large windows overlooked the same moor and the same suns she saw hours before. But if she had been there, she would have remembered.

"Those from the Moor, if you have to call them that, do they also love labyrinths?"

Jareth's eyes sparkled.

"No. There is only one real Labyrinth in the Underworld, and you know its legitimate master."  
"So this is not a labyrinth?"

Jareth's smile widened, but that was his only response. Sarah didn't need more, and she started to think. If it wasn't a maze, it was something else, and there had to be a clue. They tied to slow her down, to make her waste time. Sarah approached the tapestries, but there was no clue on it, and no hidden doors behind. As for the landscape visible through the window, it was always the same. For hours, Sarah had walked three floors of the castle. In every room, she saw the exact same sight. It didn't matter she was on the top or on the lowest floor. And if this castle had a multitude of windows, it had neither doors nor balconies.

"It's not a labyrinth, it's an illusion."

Sure of herself, Sarah advanced towards the window and traversed it easily. There was no resistance, just a shimmer and a sensation of freezing cold. She found herself with both feet on the purple moor, the two pale suns on her right. It was a relief. Even if she was sure she was right, the sight could have been another illusion. She could have stood on the edge of a cliff.

"Well done," Jareth said warmly.

This time she smiled back.

The air was fresh and nice, better from the stale atmosphere of the Labyrinth and the castle. However, Sarah was careful. It was just another form of seduction to make her relax. Seduction, lies and violence were the only things these worlds had to offer. The memory of Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus imposed itself on Sarah, and she was ashamed of this thought. There were also things and people worthy of love in the Underworld when you looked carefully beneath the surface.

"Yes, well done", interrupted a nasal voice.

Behind Sarah and Jareth, there was a cliff from where lianas fell between two cascades of dirty water and far above them, Sarah could distinguish the dead trees from the swamp. She had been standing there all this time. Maybe that was why the Goblin King had been away for so long. It had taken him a while to get into the illusion where Sarah had been caught. In which case, she had harshly judged him.

On one of the vines hung an even uglier being than Jareth's goblins, skinny and covered with pustules. He gave them a wicked smile.

"Yes, well done. Very well done. Too well played, perhaps."

Jareth quickly grabbed the creature and knocked him down before pressing his foot against his chest.

"You obviously have a message to pass, sprite. Do so and spare us your presence."

The sprite curled up under the threatening gaze of the Goblin King and raised his arms in appeasement.

"I promise. My masters congratulate you on your progress and remind you that you have seven hours left to find the child."

Sarah held back a curse. She hadn't realized she lost so much time between her fall into the lake and the mirror room. Jareth released the sprite.

"We heard. Salute your masters from me and go, pernicious creature.

"Be careful," replied the latter with false kindness. "We have the means to make you lose your superb, lord of practically nothing."

Jareth wanted to grab him again, but the goblin had already jumped so high that he was out of reach. Sarah glanced inquisitively at her guide, but his face was closed. He continued to look up for a long time, then turned away from the cliff to Sarah. He bowed to her, which was clearly an invitation to continue their journey without any question. Sarah obeyed to that almost order. She wasn't going to waste a single second trying to force the Goblin King to talk. She would have time for that latter.

"I imagine it's a good sign that they start to send us messages", she commented nevertheless while setting off. "This means that we are starting to get closer to their lair. Since illusion is their field of predilection, I imagine that it's necessary to seek for some illusion hidden in this landscape. Some must hide traps but also, hopefully, their lair."

Once again, Jareth remained silent. Sarah was beginning to fear what it could mean.

Clearly, she had been right to worry. Over the next three hours, Sarah discovered three illusions on her own and accidentally fell into two others. Jareth only followed her half the time. Sarah was alone when she found that even in an illusion, claws, teeth and talons left cruel marks that remained even after her escape. Even when, by chance or intention, the king of the Goblins followed her, he offered neither help nor advice.

"You need to learn to defend yourself alone", he said when she accused him. "You cannot rely solely on me."

"You promised to help me", spat Sarah. "You know what I think? That I'd do just as well without you. After all, you're doing absolutely nothing to help me."

Jareth smile was unreadable. After a moment, he looked away to the horizon. He looked so tired, the sight strangely took Sarah's breath away and forced her to think. Now, she wanted to slap herself. During her visit to the Labyrinth, Toby's liberation was all she could think of. Because of that, she hadn't see Hoggle's silent suffering due to Jareth's blackmail. For several hours, the Goblin's King had adopted a similar behaviour. He closed off. Obviously, his silence was hiding something. Sarah couldn't see what out of ignorance of the rules of this world.

Her firm decision to despise Jareth could also explain Sarah's lack of foresight. Since their reunion, she had listened to his advice but ignored everything else. He had told her again and again that she and Toby were just a way to hurt him, but Sarah had never seriously wondered if he was in danger here. According to him, Toby kidnaping's purpose was to trap her here to prove Those of the Moor's superiority. They hadn't counted on Jareth's decision to come and deal with the problem himself, with or without her. He had taken quite a political risk. As far as Sarah knew, it could even escalate into open warfare between the two kingdoms. The best cue of that risk was that Jareth came here as a human's guide rather than an all-powerful king.

Sarah felt like she was close to the heart of the problem. Since they arrived, Jareth had the time to found some way to defeat his opponents. But the Underworld rules must prevent him from executing it. If he was Sarah's guide, she was his instrument. She could act where he could only observe. They were using each other. She wanted Toby. He wanted to remind everyone of his power without endangering his kingdom.

It suited her perfectly.

It also meant that Sarah best chance to confront Those of the Moor was to rely on her ingenuity. The first thing to do was to learn more about these mysterious characters. Jareth couldn't tell her anything, at least, directly. He may have already given her a few clues, but he was clearly in such a foul mood that he wouldn't say anything to her for the moment. There was one detail, however, that Sarah had noticed. Jareth was unable to resist an opportunity to show her how much he knew more than she did. He also enjoyed when she was clever. If he refused to speak to her, she could manipulate him to make him talk about the strengths and weaknesses of her opponents. His ego, after all, was his weakness.

"There's one thing that I don't understand", she noted, taking care that her tone remained neutral and did not betray anything of her intense curiosity. "You said that names had power here, that they enslave whoever pronounces them. In this case, why aren't you trying to find out Those of the Moor's names?"

"They keep it a secret, silly girl."

"I understood that, thank you very much. However ... your subjects know your name, right? I heard Hoggle say it. Couldn't we just make one of their elves talk?"

Jareth's usual smile returned, much to Sarah's satisfaction.

"We have an interest in our subjects and our victims pronouncing our names. , to put them under our hold. If you had repeated my name after hearing Hoggle pronounce it, your chances of winning would have been even lower."

"You said that pronouncing my name..."

Without warning, Jareth took her in his arms and dived his face into her hair, taking Sarah's breath away again. His smell and his body heath overwhelmed her and made her unable to fight. Fortunately, he let go of her quickly and almost brutally. Her heart was racing. Jareth's hands, still resting on her shoulders, trembled.

"I told you, I have long accepted my defeat. I have no power over you, Sarah, because I see you and I want you as my equal. And if you agreed to pronounce my name as I pronounce yours..."

He paused and ran one of his hands over her forehead. His eyes were almost haggard, and he looked her likes one contemplates a vision in a dream or a statue on its pedestal. Sarah couldn't understand how someone could look at her like that.

"I would be yours", she manages to finish for him, her throat dry.

He blinked as if he was coming out of a dream and gave a painful laugh.

"Don't worry Sarah, I know you're too proud to crawl at my feet like I do with you. To come back to the subject of names, those of my rank hide them. We arrange spells so that our people cannot pronounce it around our enemies. We are not like these inferior beings. If they said yours, they would enslave you, unless you remain convinced that you are our equal and that no one here has power over you."

"I was captured in the castle. They asked for my name, and I gave it to them, but they didn't say it."

"That's because they worry about your power. A good point in your favour. To conclude, if I knew the real name of Those of the Moor, I could try to enslave them. But if mine were pronounced on these lands ... I let you guess what they could do to me."

Sarah turned around, so he didn't see her face. When Jareth had disappeared, the very first time, after leaving the swamp, she was pretty sure she'd called him by his name. It was the only time she ever said his name, on this world or her's. Most of the time, she didn't know if she despised him, hated him, or anything else, but now she hoped that no one had heard her call him by his name.  
She opened her mouth, meaning to tell him, to apologize and to plead ignorance. She did nothing. Her regrets were real, as was her concern, but Sarah still needed the Goblin King and his knowledge. She couldn't alienate him now or giving him a reason to withdraw. Sarah was aware she couldn't open her mouth without betraying herself, she resumed her march. The conversation didn't take the turn that she had wished or hoped for.

Lost in her thoughts, she took a minute to realize that she couldn't hear the characteristic noise of Jareth's boots behind her, and she turned to tell him to hurry. He had put a hand on the ground and, his head bowed, listened attentively. Curious and concerned, Sarah joined him and imitated him. She heard nothing.

"I could have sworn there was an illusion moving far away in that direction. It could be the place where they hold your brother that they move because they find that you are moving too fast."

"So let's hurry", Sarah decided, leaping to her feet. "The clock is ticking."

He nodded and get up, painfully. Sarah didn't expect that, but she noticed it now. The Goblin King was paler from hour to hour and favoured his left leg. She was going to ask him what happened, but she had to focus on the threat first. She looked at the horizon, where the sound he heard came from. She had already found an illusion by a strange shift of light on the moor. She could find another one.

Behind her, Jareth uttered a warning cry. Sarah turned around but spotted the shimmer in the air just above her head too late. She had the reflex to freeze, but too late. A clawed paw emerged from the illusion in which it had hidden, and it would have beheaded Sarah without Jareth's intervention. He jumped and made her fall. Sarah rolled to the ground, spattered with blood. She panicked, but still had the reflex to put her left hand on his shoulder to keep the blood from flowing. She needed bandages. She had none, hadn't thought about taking some. The Labyrinth hadn't been like that.

She would die if she didn't focus, Sarah forced herself to get up and widened her eyes. The thing that had attacked her was far more terrifying than anything Sarah had ever encountered, massive, stocky, covered in claws, fangs and horns. It raised its paw again and attacked at lightning speed. Sarah tripped when she tried to avoid it. She couldn't face this thing, and she knew it.  
She thought she was going to die, but Jareth stood between her and the monster, his raised cane suddenly changed into a sword. The steel effortlessly sliced through the flesh, and the beast screamed in pain as Jareth laughed. Rolling on the ground to pass under the tail of the creature, he attacked, taking advantage of the creature's surprise to slice its left tendon. He narrowly missed it. The beast, now warned, replied viciously with a violent blow of the tail which stunned Jareth. The Goblin King fell on his back. He shook his head and tried to get up, but his left leg gave way under his weight. He fell on the ground a second time. The creature took advantage of this to crush Jareth's hand with its large paw. Sarah nearly vomited when she heard bones breaking. The king did not scream but turned white and dropped his sword.

A dozen skinny sprites took the opportunity to jump out of the illusion and hit Jareth. But he hadn't loose yet. With his other hand, he grabbed his sword on the ground and pierced three sprites with a single quick gesture. The survivors screamed and scattered before they turned their wicked eyes on Sarah. She froze for the second time. She couldn't fight, was too terrorized to move or try to snatch a weapon from them.

"Don't you dare touch her", Jareth growled, without managing to free himself despite a desperate effort at the cost of a new broken rib.

One of the sprites climbed onto the monster's back. It was the same one they had already encountered.  
"Or what, lord of nothing at all?"

"Don't you dare threaten me, worm. I'm no longer playing."

"You're right, the game ends now. You finally bored us all. Also, you can only cheat and broke rules a few times before punishment. Since you didn't understand the first warning, my masters salute you."

The sprite hit the monster's posterior with a shoe shod with a metal point. Responding to the implicit order, the beast raised its tail again and planted the gigantic sting that formed the tip in Jareth's shoulder. This time the Goblin King screamed. He dropped his sword again. The sprites burst out laughing as the monster turned its sting in the wound with pleasure.

Sarah shouted.

"Stop it!"

The sprites and the monster turned their attention to her and showed her their fangs. Sarah refused to be intimidated. She was unable to fight, but it was with her words that she had defeated Jareth. She just had to grab their attention enough time for Jareth to find a second breath.

"Is this how you treat foreign king?"

A concert of laughter answered her. Even the monster made a throaty sound that showed his amusement.  
"King, this one is hardly that any more", commented the chief of the sprites. "Everyone knows that control of his kingdom has eluded him for years."

"What?"  
"Didn't he tell you? Oh, it's too funny, this rubbish king tried to make you believe that he is powerful? He's nothing, everyone knows that. He's the laughing stock of all the kingdoms. He's a prey now, not a predator. The only question is who will have the joy of killing him and who will take which part of his realm."

The creature spit in Jareth's face. His comrades imitated him while uttering animal cries, regardless of his inarticulate threats and his fiery looks.

"He's nothing. Alone, you have no chance to win. You only got so far because this animal let itself be enslaved by your smiles, didn't you? Laughable, one of the most terrible of our monarchs, reduced to the status of a dog. Too bad for him. The rules forbade him to help you, so it's his fault. If he had drooled less at your feet, he might have come out alive with some crumbs of his dignity."

The monster finally lifted its foot from Jareth's hand when the sprite hit him with his shoe a second time. The Goblin King tried to get up, shaking. He didn't have time. Screaming in rage, the monster stamped on the ground, right next to Jareth. But it was not him he was targeting. The violent blow made the earth tremble, and it swallowed the Goblins King. Sarah didn't hesitate. She ran, slid on the ground to pick up his sword and dived after him.

The earth buried them both.


	6. Underground

The fall was short, but brutal. Sarah had the impression that half a ton of rock and soil was falling on her, then everything stopped. Sarah spat out the dirt she swallowed during her fall and crawled out, praying not to start a new avalanche. The faint light of day that came from the hole caused by the monster provided just enough light to allow her to distinguish a passage or at least a hollowed space. She crawled under it and stayed there, pretty sure the ceiling wouldn't collapse. Once she was sure she didn't break anything, Sarah left her shelter to start looking for Jareth.  
He had been less fortunate in his fall. Sarah only found him because of the bloody, twisted hand which protruded from the underground. She was surprised by the cold of his hand. Each time Jareth had touched her, he had felt hot. But, much to her relief, she felt a weak pulse. Sarah did not dare to pull his hand to release him. She could cause a new ground collapse or worsen his condition. Just seeing that hand made her want to throw up.

Carefully, she released Jareth's arm and then his shoulder. Dirt and mud still threatened to bury the still-lifeless King of the Goblins, even if she did nothing. Time was of the essence, so, Sarah grabbed him with both hands around his shoulder. Then, she pulled with all her might. He was heavy, but she managed to drag him into her refuge. Just in time. The earth collapsed one last time, blocking all hope of retreat. Sarah tried to stay positive. From now on, there was no way they were some sprites who wanted them dead could follow. On the other hand, they might have been trapped into a dead-end with a slow and excruciating death in the darkness as the only way out.  
Sarah couldn't panic. With four hours left to succeed, she just didn't have the time. She put two fingers on Jareth's neck. The weakly pulse she still felt reassured her briefly, but his prolonged unconsciousness worried her. Under her hand, Jareth's forehead was sticky with blood or sweat. She couldn't tell in the dark. Sarah undid the silk cloth he had wrapped around her head wound, then did her best to wrap his shoulder with it. Fortunately, the fabric was long enough to go around his chest, and she was able to tie it and carefully slide his injured hand inside.

"That's just like him, letting me do all the work", sighed Sarah before sh thought about the fact that he was hurt only because he wanted to protect her.

She called him a coward. And her? She only had enough bravery to jump after him. When it happened, it hadn't even occurred to her to try to disarm one of the sprites to help him. She had been so scared. Now remembering she had picked up his sword before the jump, Sarah fumbled about until she fond it and put it on her belt. Finally ready, she grabbed Jareth under his shoulders and pulled.  
Their progress was difficult. Jareth was lighter than she would have thought, but it was a big challenge to pull an unconscious man while she tried to move backwards and crouching. It was even harder because she had to go very slowly, not to widen his wounds. Holding him by the legs might have been easier, but the tunnel was too narrow to turn him over easily. After a moment, Sarah began to make out the contours of Jareth's face. Something faintly shone behind Sarah. It did wonders for her spirits. She grabbed her companion more firmly and pulled harder.

The tunnel ended in a cave so big it could have contained Sarah's room. On the walls, some mushrooms emitted a soft green light. Carefully, Sarah slid Jareth's body down the slope that led to the cave. She had to hold him by the feet this time. The ridiculousness of the situation would have made her laugh if the circumstances were less dramatic. No one should ever know what had happened. If people learned that she had to hold the Goblin King by the feet so that he wouldn't fall like a heap of rag at the bottom of a slope, he would never forgive her for this indignity.

"And now, we are even", she whispered, installing him as comfortably as possible against a wall.

A quick glance showed her that Jareth's unconsciousness was not related to a head injury. Sweat stuck to his face, not blood. With his sickly complexion, it looked like he would die soon. Sarah still had some water left. She used it to mop his forehead and refresh his temples. Contact with this cool water was enough to make him regain consciousness. He opened his eyes, groaned and stared at Sarah in confusion.

"How do you feel?"

"Terribly bad," he admitted, trying in vain to straighten his head. "But I'm already feeling better. How could I not, if I can feel your lovely hands on me?"

Obviously, the compliment was more of a reflex than anything else. Jareth followed every of Sarah's move with feverish eyes, and his breath was more like a rattle. He didn't even comment when Sarah opened his doublet and shirt to examine his injured shoulder. It was less severe and less profound than Sarah feared, but it was infected. Almost purulent, in fact.

"Poisoned?", asked Jareth who seamed to already knew the answer. "Obviously. They wanted to weaken me."

"Are you sure? I thought they targeted me."

Jareth repelled her intervention with an annoyed gesture and straightened up, more successfully this time.

"I have no doubt that your death would not have saddened them, but you're wrong. I was the one targeted. They attacked you to press me into making a mistake. I know the rules, so I had no excuses. My role was not to defend you, just to guide you. They had already warned me twice. I chose to ignore it."

"Twice?" Exclaimed Sarah. "Unless you count this ambush as a warning..."

Her gaze then moved to Jareth's right leg. There was a growing pool of blood around it. Earlier, she noticed his limp but she hadn't understood.

"You know me, Sarah," he smiled with a mixture of pride and unexpected self-mockery. I hate to play fair, even with those of my kind."

"How long have you been injured? Since the illusion of the lake? The one with the trees trying to swallow me? The castle?"

His gaze betrayed him.

"You've been injured for hours and haven't said anything about it," she reproached him, her heart suddenly heavy.

He could have told her a hundred times, ask for help or reminded her how her debt to him was growing. A hundred times, he had stayed quiet. He shrugged and examined his wound to see its gravity.

"I already told you that I belong to you, Sarah," he noted in a disillusioned tone. "Did you think I was going to hesitate before I risk my life for you?"

Yes, she believed it. She had called Jareth a coward, multiple times, even though he had wounds which told the opposite. He loved to make her grand declarations of allegiance, but they all left Sarah more or less indifferent. Yes, one part of her could not help being touched by his words. The other saw the cold machination under it. She trusted him to serve his own interests only. Finally, she sighed and looked away from his feverish and pleading face.

"Why do you make yourself as difficult to love as to hate? You say you want me to love you, but most of the time, you just make yourself detestable."

"I'm just trying to make you love me, Sarah, and I succeeded. After all, you swore you'll belong to me."

"Loving someone and belong to someone is not the same thing."

"For your race, maybe. For my people and me, it's the same thing. In affairs of love, we are unable to understand or accept everything that does not touch the absolute. I'm already your slave, I'm just waiting for you to be mine in return."

Sarah looked away.

"I'm not sure I can love that way. Or that I would want it."

He feverishly grabbed her hand and brought it to his burning lips.

"I won't demand anything from you, I don't want you like that anymore, but eventually, you will have to give me something in return. Isn't it enough for you that I abase myself, do I have to crawl at your feet? Ah, Sarah, Sarah, for someone who is not of my race, you often show the same cruel indifference."

Sarah snatched her hand from his. She didn't know what hurt her most, his despair or that terrible comparison. Realizing that there was nothing more she could do for her injuries anyway, she sat up to examine the walls and ceiling of the cave for a way out. She was determined to ignore Jareth. She couldn't.

"Even your attraction to me is incomprehensible. You have centuries, millennia maybe more of experience that I don't have. I just don't understand what you can find in a fifteen-year-old girl or even in a twenty-two-year-old girl. I beat you, and I know that you do not like to admit defeat and that you wanted your revenge, but that is all that is remarkable in me."

"Do you really believe that? The only prism you have to discover yourself is indeed the gaze of those of your race. And humans are notoriously blind. You shine Sarah, of potential, of energy, of liveliness, like few people in all the worlds. Let them all underestimate you, fairies, goblins, sprites, humans ... I see the queen in you. I would be crazy not wanting to own you, whether you defeated me or not. That's the truth, Sarah, and here's another one: you want me as much as I want you. So why are you still refusing to give yourself to me?"

Before she answered, Sarah took the time to really look at him for the first time. His beauty was undeniable, with all its unreal strangeness, captivating and terrifying at the same time. Sarah had noticed it the first time, unconsciously, and it had been the subject of her first adolescent emotions. He was, in turn, cruel, indifferent, passionate. If he were human, his character would have scared Sarah away, but he was not human, indeed. When she saw him, even thus collapsed on the ground and struggling against poison and blood loss, Sarah could not deny her desire for the absolute without compromises or concessions that he promised her.

Only...

She sighed and turned around.

"Time is running out. I doubt that we will be left alone for very long. Are you ready to go?"

"Ruthless," he commented, straightening up.

He was livid, bloody and trembling, but he was standing. More than ever, he looked like a king. Sarah came to stand beside him to let him lean on her shoulder. They started walking. Jareth retrieved his sword and turned it into a staff from which came a dim light that allowed them to see where to go. The passage Sarah had found was just high enough for a human to walk. If he hadn't been, Jareth would never have had the strength to drag himself through it. Sarah moved forward easily. He was so bent over in pain that he was not likely to bump into the ceiling. Their progress was slow. The further they went, the more Sarah felt Jareth sag next to her, struggling against unconsciousness. She had to keep him awake.

"Of course I want you," she confessed, and she felt all his attention focusing on her. "But that does not mean that I will give myself to you or that I would accept to have you by my side."

"Do you have any respect for me, for lack of affection?", He asked in a weak voice.

"None. Not after what you did to Toby."

"I didn't do anything to him that you didn't want me to do."

"I've already heard this," retorted Sarah. She felt the anger that had been brewing in her for the last two days growing, "But you're lying. You promised to return him to me intact, but he's not. His mind is not alright."

She had almost whispered those last words, but Jareth heard it clearly. She felt him sneer and straighten up by her side.

"Of course, he isn't. What did you think?"

Sarah pushed him away in horror. Jareth had to lean on the wall. Without that help, he would have fallen.

"What did you do to him?"

"Me? Nothing," Jareth laughed before his laughter turned into a groan of pain. "He was going to be a goblin, why would I do anything to him?"

"I saw Toby just before he disappeared. He's different. Changed."

The look Jareth gave her betrayed his wrath, despite the fever that overwhelmed him.  
"I would have thought you smarter than all these peasants and brainless people with whom I generally deal. Who are the children I take away?"

"Unhappy children whom you tear from their families for a moment of carelessness and to whom you do not offer an ounce of love."

"I have never ruled by love, but by fear. It is the only way to do that my race can conceive. I don't know anyone who could love a Hoggle, beside you. As for the reasons, you confuse your particular case with generality. Indeed, I happen to take brave children that their sisters or their mothers are willing to give for a few seconds of silence. Although it's not the case with the majority of my goblins. They are the mouths in excess, the girls abandoned because the father wanted a boy, the children already condemned by war or disease. And then there are those like your brother, the children who look into the void with big eyes but cannot laugh or cry too much. The rejected, the abnormal, the simple-minded, those who have done no wrong but were born different. And you know what the funniest thing is? These in general, their families don't give them to me. No, they beg me to take the child back. They accuse me of having stolen the real baby."

"The changelings"

That idea had come to Sarah mind, more than once.

"I have not deprived you of the brother that you wanted Sarah. Fate took care of it long before I intervened. And sooner or later, you or your parents, you would have called me to get rid of it and would not have sought to recover it. The families of these children always end up doing that. Maybe that's what your mother and father did, in the end."

Sarah couldn't bear it any longer and burst into tears. She didn't know what she was crying about, herself, Toby, what she couldn't change or what she didn't want to change. When she had no more tears, she turned to Jareth.

"You're wrong. I would still have come to get Toby back. I gave him away because I thoughted he took my father's affection from me and deprive me of my moments of freedom. Still, I came, and I would have come in any circumstances because he didn't have to pay the price for my selfishness, my fear or my indifference."

"It doesn't matter. In the end, it would have been better if you hadn't saved your brother. You condemned him to undergo the looks of pity and contempt of humankind. He would have been happier living as one of my goblins. I take care of them. I'm the one who does that when everyone else upstairs had abandoned them."

Sarah was so mad she couldn't even reply. She grabbed Jareth's arm to place it on her shoulder and force him to move on again. Her walk was too fast for him to follow her without tripping. It hurt him, but it was of no importance to her. He was wrong. She knew he was wrong. The choice she had made, she would do it over and over again. It was indecent to see him dare to present himself as the saviour of these children.

Okay, for some of them it may have been the best alternative. If she starved to death or was beaten by her parents, Sarah might have preferred to become a goblin. However, Toby had no choice. None of these children had a choice. They were not lost children but children torn from families who may have ended up loving them or whose situation would have improved in the end. Even if the parents of these children were monsters, they may have sisters, brothers, aunts, who could have taken care of them.

"How many children are you given per year?"

"Between one hundred and two hundred."

"How many are immediately claimed, early enough for the person to face the labyrinth?"

"About thirty are claimed. Maybe ten do it in time."

There. Perhaps those who were not claimed were better off being goblins in the Labyrinth. The rest should have been returned to their families immediately. Regrets should be enough. No, Sarah was wrong. She remembered the teenager she had been. When she entered the Labyrinth, she certainly did not deserve to save Toby, any more than during most of his journey. She was a whiny girl, selfish and full of herself. In some ways, she hadn't changed, but she was aware of it and struggled every day to become a better person. She had entered the Labyrinth because she was ashamed and afraid of the consequences. She came out relieved, not because she was free of it, but because Toby was fine. The Labyrinth had become a way to face and overcome her faults. That was why she had earned the right to bring back her brother, but it was not the reason why she had won.  
She had won only by chance and because she had made unwitting friends along the way. She had realized, or decided, that she would not obey the laws and rules enacted by Jareth. And she was the only one to have won against the Goblins King because she was the only one to have understood, among hundreds of desperate people, that when the game was rigged, you simply had to refuse to play or become a player rather than staying a chess piece.

The maze had a purpose that she understood, but that was not how it should work. The Labyrinth should be the place where the participants fought themselves and not Jareth. To win, the goal should not be to reach the centre, but to defeat yourself and find some love for the kidnapped child and accept responsibility. With this in mind, the game did not need to be fair. It did not have to be, for the victory to be deserved.

This conclusion led to another. Jareth was a monster, but one with good intentions. He wanted to save these children for good reasons. It was just that he was doing it wrong and making more victims than happy people because he did not understand how Humans thought and loved. He did not reward those who learned from their mistakes, did not ask their children for their opinion. He behaved like a real bastard with all his interlocutors, including goblins. Not out of spite, because it was his nature. Because he didn't know other ways. That was how he behaved with Sarah herself. When she wasn't blinded by her anger towards him, Sarah had to admit his clumsiness towards her was almost touching. He knew that he wasn't doing it right, that she expected something else from a suitor, but he still misunderstood her and fail. Hence he only became more brittle to hide his frustration.  
Sarah felt like she was hit by three or four epiphanies at the same time. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Jareth's voice finally pulled her from her thoughts and put her on alert.

"I think we're going to have company."

He hadn't warned her a second too soon. The ground shook around them, as if pounded by dozens of feet. Jareth made them stand with their backs to the wall to cover their backs and retrieved the staff that lit their surroundings. He turned it into a torch and brandished it like a sword, visibly ready to burn and disfigure any adversary approaching too closely. Sarah could do nothing but support him and protect his right side. She hoped she was ready this time.

A horde of sprites and other creatures swarmed over them from both sides of the tunnel, screaming. Sarah knew nothing about the art of combat but did not need to. Their adversaries were as messy and clumsy as the goblins she faced with her friends. They weren't dangerous because of their skill but because of their number. Sarah knew that the battle was already lost. Only a supreme effort of will kept Jareth standing. When their attackers came within range, large reels of his improvised weapon kept them at bay. Sarah worried. They were waiting for something.

Suddenly, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the whole passage shooked like under the passage of a great wave that made everything vibrate and destabilized all those inside the tunnel. Most of the sprites fell to the ground. Sarah managed to stand, but Jareth let go of her and fell to his knees. It was the opportunity their opponents were waiting for. The wall behind Sarah curved back for a few seconds before dozens of stone hands emerged. They seized Jareth. Sarah tried to react, but when she attempted to catch him, the wall had already swallowed him. The sprites  
shouted with joy, tapping themselves violently on the shoulder without worrying about Sarah. They ignored her entirely and were already starting to leave, indicating how insignificant she seemed to them. Sarah could only agree with them. The last two attacks showed how weak she was.

No. Sarah was wrong.

They ignored her too deliberately, some giving her furtive looks as they left. She was stupid. She made the same mistakes as in the labyrinth, showed the same arrogance and incredible stupidity. She knew how she had overcome the Labyrinth and Jareth: she ceased to play the game. So why should she conform to the rules of the Underworld here?

"Wait!" She cried. The goblins froze. "I've been patient enough, take me to your masters."

They looked at each other and started whispering to each other. Their bulging eyes, their tails and ears which turned in all directions betrayed their discomfort. They weren't used to hearing orders from a human's mouth, just pleas. Sarah took care to keep the same commanding air during all their discussions. She even successfully copied Jareth's imperious look. A simple raised eyebrow made them tremble. Eventually, one of them approached Sarah cautiously.

"And why would we do that?"

"Because I told you to do it, of course."

"It's against all the rules!"

The sprite's voice was now reduced to a strangled squeak. Sarah almost felt sorry for him.

"The rules are for plebeian. Your masters invited me when they kidnapped my brother to play with me. I had a lot of fun, but now your duty is to lead their guest to your masters."

He bowed low and returned to his comrades. There was sweat on his forehead.

Sarah could only hope it worked.


	7. My power as great as his

Sarah could barely believe it, but her gamble had paid off. The people of the Underworld were too used to be restrained by their rules and codes. They no longer knew how to disobey them. The chaos they displayed was only apparent. Humans had to be afraid of their illusions. That was what gave them power and strength. Was it surprising the Underworld inhabitants had started to believe in their illusions too? If a human behaved as if everything was due to her, well maybe she was right, and it was better to lead him before their lords. It never occurred to them until then that humans could refuse to play by their rules. Even they ignored them when they arrived, they learned. Of course, Sarah had conformed to the rules the first time. She had grown up lulled by fairy tales. Even Jareth, who had been defeated by his realization that he had no power over her, never imagined that she could break the rules one more time.

However, the members of her escort were not stupid. They dispatched scouts to make sure Those of the Moor agreed to meet her. Sarah expected it. She relied on their curiosity and their amusement to get their permission to continue. The scouts returned, exchanged a few words with her guards, who nodded as they continued to guide her. She had won this round.

As they advanced, Sarah thought about what she was going to say or do when she got to Those of the Moor. Her refusal to follow the rules of the game would help, but now that they expected her to act like that, they would be ready. The only good news was that they had to be as unsure as she about what she would do. This meant that they were talking about strategy at the present time and that they had to delay her arrival.

They could try, at least.

"I know you are leading me in the wrong direction," she shouted to her guards. "Stop these idiocies immediately. I gave you an order."

"She knows! She knows!"

The sprites groaned in despair and started running around. They were not like those who had faced Jareth with the monster. Sarah was under the impression the first ones were a sort of an elite troop, but these ones were easily intimidated. They had been chosen for their number and because their death would be negligible to their leaders. Sarah felt sorry for them. Still, she glared at them until they calmed down and all took their place in her escort. After this reprimand, they moved much faster, eager to get rid of her.

Finally, the tunnel started to go up again and quickly led to the moor. With excitement, the sprites pointed to a pavilion erected a short distance away. The hangings were gold and silver and flapped at the whim of some invisible wind. A courtship of goblins, boggart, brownies and sprites surrounded it, looking at Sarah with curiosity. Three grey metal thrones with purplish shades, empty, stood in the middle of the pavilion, awaiting their owners. Her escort led Sarah there and left her alone, facing the thrones. She was clearly supposed to be afraid. On the contrary, her anger only increased, to the point that she wanted to sit on one of these seats to insult its owner's authority. If Toby's life and freedom weren't at stake, maybe she would have.

She contained herself and, finally, Those of the Moor condescended to appear. They looked incredibly powerful and beautiful, just like Jareth. They were three, a man and two women with angular faces and black hair combed back and tied by dozens of copper trinkets. Their ragged leather clothing revealed blood-red velvet dresses and metal-studded boots below.  
Sarah alternately met each of their threatening and intimidating stares and realized that she didn't fear their powers. This did not mean that she was not worried or afraid, only that she trusted her ability to face them.

"So here is the mortal who thought she could challenge us", commented the first man in a contemptuous voice.

"Did you see that?" Asked the first woman with amusement. "She's less impressive than we have been told."

That voice was familiar to Sarah. It was the woman who had spoken to her before she entered the mirror room. She was brave enough to face her, but not enough to do it without help, so Sarah stayed quiet.

"Pathetic," murmured the second woman.

They were doing their show. They were ready to insult or seduce in turn to show their power. Those of the Moor were proud and so sure they were better than her. More powerful. However, Sarah noticed two things. None of them had pronounced her name. Even better, they had driven out their subjects with a single gesture. Sprites, boggarts and other creatures had disappeared in the air and the holes in the ground in respect and terror. It meant Those of the Moor feared Sarah, even a little. If not, they would have loved to keep their audience. Sarah took great care not to show her satisfaction and prayed she was right. If her mother-in-law and father had not wanted Sarah to disappear at the time of her adolescent crisis, they would not have wanted Toby kidnapped. It was their plan.

"Lords of the Moor", she nodded in a voice as clear and firm as possible. "I come to you to allow you to repair the great injustice that you have done to me. I come, looking for my brother, who was taken from his family for no reason. You illegally hold him, and you are going to give him back to me."

She did not implore, she did not accuse, determined not to undermine her chances of success. Her interlocutors remained impassive.

"What will you give us in exchange for your brother?" Asked the first lady.

"I have nothing to offer because he was not given to you. He is free to leave and I am free to take him with me.

"Some might think that this little man is already our Underworld kingdoms' subject. He has already been given."

"And recovered."

The lord spat his contempt in a sneer.

"Not legitimately, but by cheating and spreading your thighs."

Sarah frowned.

"If there was a deception that night, it was not my fault. I won legitimately, with all the tools at my disposal. My victory was conceded to me both by the Goblins King, his subjects and the Labyrinth itself. I struggled body and soul to obtain my brother's release. I will not see my victory contested by those who were not there that night."

Those of the Moor sneered with delight. The second lady stamped her foot on the ground. Sarah felt her tongue freeze in her mouth. Invisible cords grip her, to the point of making her breathing difficult. The three gave each other a satisfied smile.

"Do you hear her?" Asked the second lady. "Have you ever heard more ridiculous than this silly girl? Know, child, that no one has won against the Labyrinth and that it never spits out his prey. You are nothing here, just an insect. We can crush you at the slightest whim, and you have no right to speak of us like that. Bring him in."

Sarah turned her head towards the entrance to the pavilion, full of hope. Now that they had shown her their power, they could show her a simulacrum of leniency and give Toby back to her. She would even bow to them, and gladly. She just wanted to hug him. But it was not going to go her way and she nearly cried. It was not Toby who was being tossed in the pavilion, but Jareth, chained and injured. Covered in dirt, blood and sweat, his face pale and his eyes haggard, he had nothing to do with the proud king Sarah met so long ago. His guards dropped him. Jareth fell to the ground, without a groan and immediately passed out. He was at the end of the rope.

Many times, before and since their reunion, Sarah had wished to see him demeaned and humiliated. Not anymore. Not like that, when they obviously wanted to make her the instrument of his ruin.

The first lady rose gracefully and knelt down to take Jareth's face between her hands and scratched him with her gold-painted nails. Sarah still felt the wound left by them on her own face.

The pain woke Jareth. He opened his eyes to dart them at the lady. He tried to send her a threatening look and straighten up, but she just laughed and caressed his face with amusement then send him back to the ground with a simple push of the finger.

"You are defeated. We have wanted to see this for a long time."

"It was inevitable", added her companion, getting up and coming next to her." Did you really hoped you could hide your downfall for so long?"

"I'm sure he's surprised to have been defeated and captured so easily", added the last of the three, still sitting and staring at Sarah. "Who knows. He may still be unaware that he has been betrayed."  
Jareth's feverish and begging eyes fell on Sarah. Her stillness, her silence, supported the accusations of the lady. It wasn't Sarah wish. But she had never shown the Goblin King enough affection or respect for him to believe her against any evidence to the contrary. He must have thought she sold him for Toby's freedom. Sarah preferred not to wonder if she would have done it if Those of the Moor had proposed that deal. They wanted to obliterate Jareth and had only too well realized that she was his principal weakness. Sarah thought she was winning the game by refusing to participate in their power plays. She hadn't thought that they would cheat with even less shamelessness than Jareth and that her existence or opinion would be of so little importance to them. She had grown too used to being placed on a pedestal by the Goblin King. His feelings for her, whatever they might be, had made her forget she was nothing and no one here.

The first lady's smile widens. Her nostrils flickered. She looked like a bloody predator about to rush on its injured prey.

"Don't you want to ask her by yourself, Jareth?"

Hearing his name spoken aloud almost annihilated Jareth. He convulsed, his eyes rolled back, a silent howl stuck in his throat. Sarah would have gladly screamed in horror and could only let tears of shame run down her face. It was her fault. Everything was entirely her fault. If she had allowed him to come alone, if he had to face Those of the Moor without having to worry about her, if...

No. Whatever she felt for him, pity, attraction or other, Sarah refused to regret what she did. It was up to her to take care of her brother. She would not leave this privilege and this duty to anyone else, whatever the consequences.

"I imagine you are suffering greatly, Jareth", the lord of the Moor pretended to sympathize. "I can only imagine, of course, because for my part, I was never stupid enough to let a vulgar human remember my name. Of course, your arrogance has always been the only thing that can claim to equal your stupidity. I'm impressed."

"Your suffering can end, Jareth", insisted the last mistress of the Moor. "You only have a few words to say. Leave your kingdom, entrust it to us, and we will grant you a quick death."

Jareth laughed weakly and managed to get on one knee.

"Fighting, poisoning or stabbing me is easy. In the last centuries, others had succeeded it when they tried to take the Labyrinth and the Goblins city from me. But they always failed, in the end. I have never yielded against a will which is not as strong as mine. Yours is far from being worth even that of the most cowardly of my Goblins."

A whip, suddenly appeared in the second lady's hand, scarred Jareth's face.  
"Down, dog", she ordered in a soft voice. "Whoever has lost one of his two kingdoms can't be permitted these insolences."

"We know perfectly the terms of the treaties which bind you to your kingdoms. As long as you have both, you have no right to give either. But that's no longer the case, is it?"

Sarah was flabbergasted. She had understood that Jareth was reluctant to face other sovereigns in the Underworld directly, but she never imagined that his situation was so precarious. He knew how much he was putting himself in danger to meet the challenge of Those of the Moor. So, he had used her to secure his back. In the end, they used each other quite well. Jareth may have been right when he said that she was acting with the cruelty of his race. Well, at least she had learned from the best.

"My ladies are right", approved the lord. "It is common knowledge that your goblins no longer obey you and that the door to your castle is closed to you. You may remain master of the Labyrinth, but you have no more people to govern, no more armies. You have been besieging your own city in vain for years. Stop making a fool of yourself in the eyes of your peers. Just give up."

"Or are you too imbued with yourself to do so? You know that in death, you may recover some honour."

"My Goblins may have chosen a new master, but the Labyrinth is still mine. You will not be able to tear it off even from my dead fingers. It will fight against you. The Labyrinth can only be obtained in two ways. The first is strength, and the three of you are far from having the power I had when I took it alone."

The lord shrugged.

"So we'll use the second."

Jareth laughed at him. There was a new sparkle in his eyes as his gaze shifted from one to the other of the masters of the Moor, flying over Sarah's frozen face.

"You three will never understand this way of conquering, any more than I do. I should have been wary the second I lost the allegiance of one of my subjects. By the time I realized it, everyone had abandoned me. They had decided that they preferred another way of ruling than mine. But you will not be able to conquer them in this way. This is simply not the way of our race."

He looked more sharply at Sarah, who suddenly realized what he was saying. She had always known that Jareth had a plan. Now, she realized the few clues he had give her on their journey, no doubt confident in her ability to understand his plan. How bad he must have felt when he discovered her so-called betrayal. After their conversation, he had to reach the conclusion that Sarah had only pronounced his name because she learned from his own mouth what it would cost him if it were known to his enemies. And yet, even now he risked everything while betting on her.

Ten minutes earlier, Sarah would never have succeeded in overcoming the spell that made her mute and motionless. How could a human have escaped the power of these beings' spells? As soon as she understood that they only received her to use her as a pawn, she began to doubt her ability to refuse the Underworld's rules or influence on her. Now, she knew she could face them, even by following its rules which she knew almost nothing about. Wasn't she sovereign, her will equal to theirs?

"He can't give you the Labyrinth," she said in a firmer voice than she hoped. "He has no right to do so."

All the attention of Those of the Moor focused on her. Their disdain could be read on their faces, as was the surprise hiding below. Sarah decided not to give them time to recover.

"You say he's at your mercy, but you are wrong. He's at mine. I heard your people laughing, saying that he was crawling at my feet. They are right. The master of the Labyrinth belongs to me, as does the Goblins city, its castle and its palace. I conquered them. I am their queen. Jareth belongs to me and cannot give the labyrinth without my permission. I refuse him."

She had taken great care to pronounce his name in a way that revealed all the attraction, fear and desire that she felt towards him, finally pronouncing his name as he whispered hers.  
Jareth trembled, but this time, it was not because of the pain.

"Are you sure, Sarah?"

"It has no importance. I understand my responsibilities. From now on, I assume them."

The third of the Moor springs out of its seat, ready to spit an insult or a spell. His right hand was clenched on his whip, ready to attack. The other two from the Moor grabbed Jareth, darting sharp daggers toward his throat and belly.

"You're not going to do that," Sarah told them quietly. "The master of the Labyrinth is no longer a man on the ground that you can kill or ransom. He's a visiting sovereign with his consort. If you attack today, it will be known, just as you knew he was losing his power. No one would forgive you, especially if we win today. No goblin, sprite or Underworld lord would forget. Attack us, and see all the Underworld turn to you without mercy, just to show us that they were not your accomplices. Even a mortal like me, who does not know anything about the politics of your courtships, can realize that. So, are you ready to take the risk?"

Only dark looks answered her. Those of the Moor were not ready to give up the fight. They had bet too much and were too ambitious. Jareth, who was still on the ground, made a sign that he wanted to speak. Sarah easily overcame the spell that immobilized her and came to help him stand.

"My companion raises some interesting points. I remind you that she can also summon the goblins ost and we all know that they are more ferocious than your subjects. Would a battle on the moor entertain you?"

"Be careful," threatened the first lady. "Maybe you can fight back, but we still know your name. Both of them."

"Certainly," replied Jareth, "but you are going to force yourself to forget mine to avoid open war. As for Sarah ... well, she may be the Goblins Queen, but she remains human. Haven't you hear what she said? Her will is stronger than yours. You can try to enslave her using her name. You will fail over and over again. And if you enslave me with my name, you will find her and her armies on your way. Besides, she could reveal to your subjects how mine have freed themselves from their chains to make her their sovereign. I'm sure you don't want to deal with a revolution on your land.

It's quite dreadful. Forget my name."

Between his broken fingers, he made a crystal ball appear. The effort it required nearly made him fall again, but the spell succeeded. The ball flew away to float before the eyes of each of Jareth's adversaries, leaving behind a multicoloured wake. None of them tried to protest or counter the spell. Those of the Moor had been prepared to risk a confrontation with a weakened Jareth. A direct threat to their hegemony over their own backyard was more than they wanted to risk. They bowed with eyes full of rage and a stiff neck.

"As you wish. For now."

"But, master of the Labyrinth, realize that you will find us again and again on your way."

"Your name is forgotten. But not your acts today."

Jareth's arrogant and bloody smile was the only answer he needed to give them. Sarah tried to imitate his posture.

"Now that your royal affairs are resolved, we still have to settle mine", she said. "It's time you returned my brother to me."

"As a token of friendship," added Jareth with a menacing smile.

"Impossible", answered the first lady while raising a hand to appease Sarah, who already started to protest. "A few hours after we took him, he was snatched from us by a goblin and two other creatures. Your subjects, I imagine."

Sarah was so glad she nearly cried and laughed. All politics of the Underworld forgotten, she turned her thoughts to Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus.

The world began to turn.

It was not the first time Sarah was magically moved to another place. However, the process had always been unpleasant. Not this time. Sarah had seemed to slide naturally from place to place. With a simple thought, she was now standing in the centre of the labyrinth, in Jareth's throne room, or at least, his old throne room. The master of the Labyrinth was obviously not welcome. As soon as he and Sarah appeared, roughly twenty goblins armed to the teeth darted their spears towards him.

In the state he was in, they would have killed him easily.

Sarah let go of him and let him slide to the ground. All her worry for him was gone, replaced by intense relief that brought tears to his eyes. Behind the armed goblins and others who awkwardly curtsied to Sarah, stood Ludo, seated at the foot of the throne. And, sitting on his shoulders, Toby was turning a chicken egg between his fingers. Sarah ran to him and lifted him to kiss him many times. The child briefly hugged her before squirming to escape. Sarah placed him gently on the floor and hugged Ludo fiercely.

"Thank you for saving him and keeping him safe. How did you do it?"

Hoggle and Sir Didymus bowed, almost timidly.

"Ludo heard you call him and tell him to take care of Toby", Hoggle explained. "We escaped and obeyed."

"The battle was hard to seize your brave young brother, my lady", added Sir Didymus. "But law and justice were for us, and with the memory of your friendship to guide us, we overcame them. If not, I assure you we would have died trying rather than return without him."

Ludo and Hoggle nodded with conviction. She hugged them in turn, unable to stop her tears. She remembered the story she had told Toby before he disappeared. She had wished that her strange little brother had protectors like hers, nothing more. She required nothing of them.

"You didn't have to do all that for me", she managed to articulate between two sobs. "You have already done so much to help me."  
"Nonsense, my lady. We are your good and loyal subjects. We will respond with a happy heart to all of your requests. There was no need to give us an order for us to act. If we had wanted or needed anyone else to assist us, we would have collapsed under the volunteers."

Each goblin around them nodded. Sarah was suddenly forced to realize the responsibility she had accepted by claiming that title. She was a queen now. Queen of the Goblins city. She had a people, a kingdom, of which she knew almost nothing. This idea alone would have overwhelmed her if the euphoria of having found Tedy had not continued to overwhelm her. She tried to smile at the small crowd that populated the throne room, intimidated by the hope and the admiration she saw in their eyes.

"If he had given us such an order, we would have obeyed by force", added Hoggle. "It's not the same for you. You are the queen we chose for ourselves. Now, tell us what to do with him?"  
Hoggle's voice betrayed his anger at Jareth as he pointed to him.

"He's my guest, for now. Can you get him treated and find him a bed?"

"If you want that, we'll obey, but not so gladly this time. Many here would like him to continue to suffer."

Again, the goblins approved of the chef or an angry growl. However, everyone got to work, positioning themselves to lift the unconscious man. They managed to do so that his skull hit the ground several times. Sarah didn't scold them. In her eyes, they had suffered enough under his reign to allow themselves this little pettiness. Reassured as far as Jareth's survival was concerned, she turned her full attention to Toby and her kingdom. She had work to do.


	8. A Queen in her realm

This is the end of this let me know if you enjoyed it !

**A queen in her realm**

Three days passed, or at least the sun rose and set three times. The days' lengths were very uneven, and Sarah sometimes feared to learn how much time had passed in the normal world. Hoggle assured her that she had nothing to fear and that it would be as long or short as she wanted.  
Hoggle had been invaluable to her these recent days. He was always there when she needed him, by her side or hiding behind her throne to whisper advice while Sarah looked regal. She had received ambassadors from distant or rival courts, settled differences between goblins and established strategies with her advisers. She still couldn't believe she was a queen, even with Hoggle's explanations.  
He said it had happened naturally and had been inevitable. Jareth's defeat had the effect of a lightning bolt. All goblins feared him and were delighted to know that he had been publicly lowered. Hoggle and Sir Didymus's tales had strengthened Sarah's aura with these disillusioned subjects. In a few months, they had started to love her when they learned from her friends that she was gentle, loving, courageous, that although human, she considered goblins and other inhabitants of the Labyrinth and the city as her friends. All had said to themselves that they would have liked to have had her as queen. Sarah, like their sisters, their brothers, their fathers, their mothers, had abandoned her brother, but she had fought for him. She got to bring him back. And Jareth finally imprisoned Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo for sedition and treason in the worst of the Labyrinth's jails. It was the last straw for the goblins. They woke up and felt the bond of loyalty which bound them willingly or by force to Jareth dissolving, replaced by another, much sweeter, towards Sarah herself. They had forgotten Jareth's name and no longer felt compelled to obey him. Until then, no one knew that they could choose a sovereign. Sarah wondered if telling them about the concept of election was a good or bad idea. Upon their change of allegiance, the goblins had refused to obey Jareth. The city had closed its doors to him as soon as he stepped outside to inspect the Labyrinth. The fallen king besieged his lost city with all his weapons and all the armies that the Labyrinth could offer him. The goblins had suffered severe assaults and heavy losses but had always held out.

Sarah was ashamed when she realized that she could have come to help them for years. If only she wished it strongly enough, any goblin could have escaped the blockade and come to bring her news. But no, she had rejected everything that came from the Labyrinth. In time, she even rejected Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus. She didn't mean to do that, she loved them so much, but she did. And they had been trapped inside the city, undergoing Jareth's blockade without being able to defeat him because their queen was not with them. At first, her dearest friends had not answered her calls because of the magic of Jareth who had kept them imprisoned. And when Sarah's will became stronger than his, they had made the decision to protect her brother. According to them, she wanted so badly that her brother was safe that they had heard her thought for the first time in years. By mutual agreement, they had chosen to fulfil her wish rather than respond to her call.

Within the city limits, Sarah's power was therefore undisputed. The goblins treated her with respect and admiration. As for Sarah, she tried to speak to them with kindness and tried to always remember that they had been human children when she was appalled by their childish behaviour or their savagery. Hoggle sighed regularly and said that they were too used to Jareth's commands and violence. The goblins struggled to understand her way of doing things. Their whims were only the mark of their incomprehension. Toby was better with them than Sarah. Her brother had always hated noise, but he always laughed when he saw the goblins. Toby knew how to push them in the right direction when they did not know on what foot to dance when Sarah gave an order which seemed a little too much like a suggestion.

As strange as it sounded, he was happy here. While Sarah was giving orders, he stood at the foot of her throne and drew goblin heads with chalk on the floor. From time to time, he nodded to show his agreement with one of the goblin advisers, with a serious expression that always made Sarah laugh. At times, the idea of bringing him back to London or to America pained her. She refused to doubt their parents' love for him. Even if Toby was indeed a little different from other boys, they would still love him. But how could she bring him back? He flourished among the goblins who followed him everywhere, fascinated. And Toby did not seem eager to return. He no longer stormed as he had done at the hotel. Usually, he was in a contemplative mood and stayed quiet, but laughed and ran happily sometimes. A few times he had a temper tantrum because someone dared move Lancelot or his chalks at the foot of the throne. Sarah had explained to him that the bear had helped her to find the strength to look for him. She knew he understood because he had placed Lancelot on the throne that day as if the bear could protect her throne when she wasn't here. No one could contest its place since. Only Sarah could move it to place it on her lap while she welcomed her visitors. She was complacent, too relieved to have found Toby. She would have given in to all his whims.

Within days, a routine had set in, and Sarah was reluctant to destroy it. But she had to.

Jareth's finally woke up. It was almost a relief to Sarah. She had so many questions. A goblin came to announce his awakening as she stood in the throne room with her advisers and was trying to figure out the best way to deal with the more recent Labyrinth assault. Vines were trying to force the West Gate. The new queen immediately stopped the meeting, her heart pounding.

"Watch Toby," she asked Ludo, who nodded with a big smile. "I don't want the Labyrinth master to get his hands on him."

Sarah no longer feared Jareth as before, but better safe than sorry. Once alone, she checked her outfit and hairstyle. She didn't want to appear too seductive, but she was increasingly aware she needed to look the part. Appearance was of the highest importance in power struggles in the Underworld. Once satisfied that she looked like the queen she was meant to be, Sarah joined the guest quarters where Jareth was cared for and fiercely guarded by his former subjects.  
Opening the door of her room, Sarah thought that it looked more like an oubliette than a sick room. Only a very thin ray of sunshine lit the chamber and its occupant, coming from a narrow loophole in the corner of the room. The dim light made Jareth's pale complexion look even more sickly than it was. Sarah staid on the doorstep and noticed his thinness and the bags under his eyes. It was the first time she saw him since their arrival.

"Don't look at me like that Sarah," he said, opening his eyes and inviting her to enter the room.  
Almost despite herself, but well aware of the desires that pushed her, Sarah obeyed. He watched her move while admiring her dress.

"I'm glad to see you in better shape", admitted Sarah. "I was worried this past few days."

"No one is more relieved than me. They were a few occasions where I would not have given much of my skin and yours. But look where we are now. Didn't I always say I would make you my equal?"  
"Don't exaggerate. It was the goblins who decided to rely on me rather than you. My goblins who chose to free Toby on their own. In this whole story, I owe you nothing."

Jareth raised an eyebrow at what he saw as an exaggeration but stayed quiet. Sarah smiled at him and resumed.

"Despite everything, I am grateful to you for agreeing to accompany me and guide me in the Moor. Without you, I might not have survived, and we both know that you have done much more than I was entitled to expect from you. For all this, thank you."

He was visibly surprised to see her ready to admit her debt and Sarah raised her chin in a gesture she hoped was defiant. Finally, he smiled.

"You shouldn't thank your rivals so quickly. Did you not realize that my forces are besieging your little kingdom? You can lead your pitiful goblins as much as you want, Sarah. Without me to support you, your domain is the weakest of all."

"It remains to be seen. I will be their queen to protect them from you. I will not return your kingdom to you."

With unexpected force, Jareth got up and pressed Sarah against the stone wall. She refused to tense up or melt into his embrace. Sarah just looked at him as coldly as she could. With a predatory smile, Jareth undressed her with his gaze. He trapped her right hand above her head. His other hand, he put it on her hips.

"Wil you scream for help or defend yourself?"

He breathed in her neck. She didn't shiver and was very proud of that fact.

"Why would I do that? You're so weak right now that I could knock you down with a single push."  
"You underestimate my strength. I could make you cry my name of pleasure over and over again until you ask for mercy."

"And you underestimate your condition, just as you forget that I am no longer a pitiful little human frightened as you like them. You will not scare me. You repeat that I am your equal, yet you hate that this is really the case. You can never dominate me again."

Frustrated and furious, the master of the Labyrinth turned away and stamped his feet on the floor. Sarah advanced towards him confidently. She was her own mistress. She was in control of her desires and fears now. Pushing her advantage, she continued.

"My kingdom is as big as yours now but do we need to challenge each other? The Labyrinth and the Goblins city have always worked together. I hope this will always be the case. It is now my duty to take the children offered to the Goblins queen. There must be test offered to those who wish to recover them. You're still the master of the Labyrinth. I want you to do your job, as you always had. Let's collaborate."

Jareth looked at her in amazement, then his smile widened.

"I would do everything in my power so that they never reach the limits of your domain."

"And I will cheat on every turn to help the most deserving", retorted Sarah.

Jareth's joyful laughter echoed throughout the room. Sarah smiled back. She had planned everything while he was asleep. She was starting to understand her new role, but it was out of the question to reign as Jareth had done. She would abduct children but would return them to all who were sincere enough in their regrets and ready to change their behaviour. As for the captured children, she would leave them the choice of becoming a goblin or remaining human. They still couldn't leave the city limits, but it would always be better than the lack of choice imposed by Jareth. Her advisers kept saying over and over that it would be frowned upon throughout the Underworld. Sarah didn't care. She would be relentless in her relationships with her neighbours and in her treatment of the visitors whose repentance was not sincere. In a few months, no one would think she was weak and especially not Jareth.

"I think I'll collaborate, for now", Jareth finally said once he stopped laughing." I will order the Labyrinth to end the siege of the city."

"I am grateful to you."

"But beware Sarah. Until you give me everything I want, I remain your adversary. The siege ended, I could still decide to regularly test your and your domain defences."

"If you wish to do so, I won't stop you. You'll see that our defences are solid and the place quite strong enough to resist your assaults. My will, after all, is as strong as yours, Jareth."

Hearing her say his name brought a new smile to Jareth's lips, but it quickly dissipated. He exchanged a new look with Sarah, which dragged on in heavy silence. They could no longer deny where they stood and what they felt for each other. Their desire was palpable. Sarah was no longer trying to deny hers. However, they were also two sovereigns, each with different ambitions and intentions. If they weren't rivals, they weren't allies either. What they both wanted to be was of no importance in the face of this reality. They both looked away with sadness.

"You're free to leave as soon as your condition allows it", Sarah said at last. "You're not a prisoner here, and your kingdom is waiting for you."

Jareth nodded but didn't take a step toward the door. He nearly held out a hand to Sarah's face before he controlled himself and disappeared. Sarah was left alone. She could only look where he was the instant before in frustration. A few days earlier, she would have been relieved to see him disappear. Now, she yearned for his presence after just a few seconds of absence. However, there was no point in crying over it. She would see him many times in the months and years to come, when their respective duties forced them to do so. It was unlikely that they would find joy in those meetings. There would always be something preventing them from becoming something more.

Sarah had dreamed of being his equal. She was now, but it had a bitter taste.  
Almost reluctantly, she left the room, not without casting a last look toward it, hoping irrationally that he would come back and take her in his arms to give her the absolute he had promised her for so long. Sarah could cry over this failure, but the Goblins Queen could not afford it. She had to prove that she could lead her kingdom properly, to herself, to Toby, to her people and to him. She had to learn to smile and threaten, to lead and to protect a whole kingdom of goblins. She had to find a way to combine her life here and her life there, far above the Underworld. Maybe she should give up her research, which now seemed futile to her, but she was going to give Toby back to his parents, and there was no way she couldn't be around to see him grow up and keep him happy. She could order a goblin to watch over his safety and bring him back to the palace safely if he lacked love or acceptance, but it would not be enough. She had to be there.

Sarah, the Goblins queen, closed the door and returned to her duties. And one day, in a far future, she would find the time to fight for what her heart wanted.

One day.


End file.
